Political Quotes

“Thanks, Senator Heinrich. I am going to hand this over to the Senator from Ohio, as well as our Senator from Tennessee, where it is so important to the Restore Our Parks Act. I know we have a lot to talk about in our national parks. I want to add one point, Senator Heinrich, about what you mentioned around the economic benefits. Seventy percent of the fishing access that is in Montana has been funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund--70 percent. As a kid growing up, I had a fly rod in my hand back in the early 1970s before fly fishing became very popular. My grandpa and my dad would take me out, not unlike in ``The River Runs Through It.'' That is a classic movie. When Robert Redford and Brad Pitt came out to Montana and filmed this amazing movie, it was filmed on the Gallatin River, where I grew up fishing as a kid, in Bozeman. Little did we know what a movie like that and fishing access might do to spur our fly fishing industry in Montana. Now our outdoor recreation economy is $7 billion in Montana. What started out as access for the public and primarily Montanans has turned into something that is an economic driver, as others want to share the amazing experiences we have in places like Montana, on our rivers and seeing a trout on a fly line. It is an important economic driver.”