For the Conservation Movement

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I would not be running for the U.S. Congress if I believed anybody in Republican politics was doing enough to protect our public lands, support the public servants who steward them, and carry on the great conservative tradition of conservation. But I see nobody doing enough.

Those in the work are few and far between. Their voices go largely unheard. My party has not yet listened to the will of the American people to protect our inheritance, and those of us who do hear it need to stand up and speak.

This campaign is about our public lands and our historic heritage.

The Republican Party once led the world in conservation, stewardship, a greater respect for our natural and historic heritage, and the protection of the places that forged the greatness of the American people and still renew us now.

Republicans like Abe Lincoln, U.S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, and their friends established the first National Parks, National Forests, and National Wildlife Refuges, and founded many of the agencies that protect them to this day.

We worked across the aisle with Democrats to manage these lands wisely through a depression, through two world wars, and through the dawn of the atomic age.

We took what our descendants passed down to us, and left it a little better for our children. And as we did we became better, wiser, a civilization more worth living in.

Republicans can lead again. We can renew our heritage of stewardship, and in the 250th anniversary of American independence, live up to the responsibilities we have not only to our public lands and historic heritage, but to the society and the system of government of which they are the crown jewels.

In this campaign, we will work with like-minded Republicans and with our brothers and sisters across the aisle to protect the public lands in full, to keep their stewards supported by our government, and to help the American people continue the grand debate on how best to keep our inheritance for all the years to come. We will do this in all the ways we can, on the campaign trail, in Congress, and beyond.

To anyone, from any party, with any approach to conservation, who is working to keep all the public lands in public hands, and keep the public servants who tend them fully supported, and argue to the public why this matters:

No matter what else we disagree on, I look forward to working with you in this great cause.