As shutdown breaks records, a reminder that Western landowners and working lands need a functioning federal government 

Denver – The Western Landowners Alliance (WLA) is a landowner-led, nonpartisan organization with members who steward millions of private deeded and leased public acres across the American West, from all across the political spectrum. We work to advance the policies and practices that sustain working lands, connected landscapes and native species. We recognize that healthy landscapes – including healthy public lands – and healthy economies go hand-in-hand. 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Interior (DOI) and other federal departments are key partners for the vast majority of Western landowners. This government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history. The impacts are widespread. The stewards of the West’s working lands are feeling them acutely. We urge the administration and both political parties in Congress to work together to reopen our national government and get back to serving the citizens of the United States. 

Western landowners depend on the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Wildlife Services, and Fish and Wildlife Service programs for farm loans and disaster payments, expertise and cost-share for infrastructure and conservation practices. These agencies are partners, helping to sustain the farms and ranches and the farmers and ranchers that grow food, fiber and fuel for Americans. These lands and their owners also protect clean water, clean air and provide wildlife habitat for all of us.  

“Western landowners have built businesses and livelihoods based on functional administration of USDA Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management grazing and timber permits,” says Shaleas Harrison, Western Landowners Alliance policy manager. “We rely on USDA-APHIS for disease and animal damage services. We make important business and conservation decisions based on reliable and timely research from the Agricultural Research Service and data from the U.S. Geological Survey and forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. And we count on partnering with Forest Service firefighters to protect our property, and the public’s, from wildfire,” continued Harrison, whose family has farmed outside of Powell, Wyoming for four generations.  

“In order for the federal government to be an effective partner, it is essential that the doors remain open, the lights remain on, and the staff get back at work,” said Harrison. 

The Western Landowners Alliance was founded and built on the core belief that conservation is nonpartisan, and that durable solutions to our problems in the West, and as a nation, will come from diligent and dutiful collaboration focused on our common ground and led by those closest to the land. We urge members of congress and the administration to work with this same spirit to reopen the government as soon as possible.