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Category: City Desk

• conservation
• national monuments
• National Forests

By Kathleen Shannon - Producer, Contact - News

Big Sky Connection - The 2025 Conservation in the West Poll shows support for conservation efforts across the West is strong with all political parties, including 'MAGA' Republicans. This comes as the Trump administration begins rounds of layoffs in the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and other federal agencies, impacting thousands of Montanans. Comments by two pollsters with New Bridge Strategy: Kathryn Hahne [HAHN], director; and Lori Weigel [WHY-gul], principal.

Click on the image above for the audio. According to the 2025 Conservation in the West Poll, 86% of Montanans prefer decisions about public lands, water and wildlife be made by career professionals including rangers, scientists and firefighters, rather than officials appointed from other industries. (U.S. Forest Service)

Kathleen Shannon

February 25, 2025 - In its 15th annual year of polling on Conservation in the West, the State of the Rockies Project this year has found support for conservation by some of the highest margins to date and notably across party lines.

Pollsters have always asked respondents to identify their political parties, but 2025 marked the first year respondents could affiliate with the 'MAGA' movement. Results showed regardless of affiliation, support for conservation is strong.

Kathryn Hahne, director at New Bridge Strategy, which conducted the poll, noted 69% of MAGA supporters oppose reducing funding to federal agencies managing public lands and wildlife.

"Among MAGA supporters, 81% approve of the National Park Service, 74% approve of the U.S. Forest Service, 71% approve of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 46% approve of the EPA," Hahne reported.

The poll results come as the same federal agencies earlier this month began laying off permanent employees and freezing seasonal hiring as part of an effort led by billionaire Elon Musk to cut federal spending. The Forest Service fired roughly 3,400 employees and the Department of the Interior fired about 1,000 National Park Service employees and 800 Bureau of Land Management employees, including many in Montana.

The Trump administration released an order to "review and, as appropriate, revise" designations of national monuments, a power which has been exclusive to U.S. presidents for 120 years.

Lori Weigel, partner at the polling firm New Bridge Strategy, said Westerners across the board, including and 87% percent of Montanans, support keeping national monuments.

"There's really no subgroup within any of the data that is saying we ought to remove those designations," Weigel noted.

Nearly all surveyed Democrats across eight western states support keeping national monument designations, as do 83% of Republicans and 81% of MAGA Republicans.