Melanie Stansbury: “it is with great pride and a bit of sadness that I rise today to say goodbye for now and thank you to my dear friend…”

“it is with great pride and a bit of sadness that I rise today to say goodbye for now and thank you to my dear friend, and one of Congress' greatest champions for our public lands, Mr. David Brooks, who officially retires this week. Over the last 38 years, David has served as an exceptional leader in the United States Senate and House, serving over the last 36 rac{1}{2} ext{ years as counsel to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He is the longest tenured ENR counsel in history, working for eight different Senate chairs and ranking members and one House Member. During this time, David has worked on bills protecting nearly 25 million acres of public lands, 25 million acres of wilderness, national parks, monuments, wild and scenic rivers, heritage areas, national recreation areas, and trails. He helped to write, negotiate, and pass one of the largest conservation bills in modern history with the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. He helped to create permanent and mandatory funding for The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has protected public lands across the country. During his service, he helped craft 10 of the largest and most significant public land and water packages in decades, including helping to pass hundreds of individual bills and creating nearly 50 new national park units and 17 million acres of new national wilderness.”