Viewpoint: Daines must prove he's a friend of public lands

Nick Gevock

In the first Trump administration, Sen. Steve Daines made numerous statements that he would ask tough questions of Trump’s pick to run the largest federal land agency in the country, the Bureau of Land Management. That skepticism was well-founded in William Perry Pendley, an extremist who was a fierce advocate for selling off public lands.

But Daines never got that chance, because the Trump administration never brought Perry Pendley forward, instead letting him serve as BLM director under an acting status that was later ruled illegal. Eight years later, it’s deja vu all over again, as Trump has nominated an advocate for selling off our public lands to run the BLM.

Steve Pearce, a former member of Congress from New Mexico, would be disastrous for Montana’s forests, mountains,