- [Announcer] MontanaPBS Equal Time offering unedited time to candidates for state auditor.

As a member of the State Land Board, how would you balance quality public access with development of natural resources?

- State Trust Lands were set aside for the funding of K-12 education in Montana, an obviously important purpose.

The lands belong to all Montanans, so access and long-term conservation must be balanced with the need to generate revenue to provide the funding.

I'm uniquely qualified to craft that balance.

Unlike my opponent, I spent 40 years in business, including working oil fields in Wyoming for companies that developed waste disposal facilities and one that relied on timber harvest.

I know that things can be done right and they can be done wrong as we have certainly seen here in Montana.

I have stood up to business fraud, and I will ensure that those who have the privilege to develop resources or otherwise operate on State Lands will be required to do so responsibly and absolutely hold them accountable if they don't.

- The answer here is directly informed by the Montana Constitution, which states that it is the primary job of the Land Board to maximize revenue generated from School Trust Lands for use by Montana's public schools.

For example, in 2020, State Trust Lands produced over 41 million for Montana's K-12 public schools.

This duty to maximize revenue has been affirmed by the Montana Supreme Court.

Thus, for any project that comes up before me as a member of the Land Board, I will first evaluate whether the project is bringing in adequate revenue to educate Montana's kids as is required by the Constitution, and then determine if the project can also serve a separate public interest by providing access to public lands.

It's important to remember that recreational users of State Trust Lands generally must obtain a conservation license.

A portion of this conservation license sales revenue helps to fund Montana schools.

Having the proper license and recreating responsibly helps keep Montana's working lands open to recreational use.

- [Announcer] MontanaPBS Equal Time was made possible by the Greater Montana Foundation.

All Equal Time segments are available online at montanapbs.org/equaltime.

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