{"id":79741,"date":"2025-01-15T12:46:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T20:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/montana-conservation-groups-urge-officials-not-to-take-away-marijuana-revenue-support\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T19:46:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T03:46:30","slug":"montana-conservation-groups-urge-officials-not-to-take-away-marijuana-revenue-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/01\/15\/montana-conservation-groups-urge-officials-not-to-take-away-marijuana-revenue-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Conservation Groups Urge Officials Not To Take Away Marijuana Revenue Support"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come to rely on this investment as Montanans, and it\u2019s critical that we continue to build on this foundation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Micah Drew, Daily Montanan<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the four years since the Montana Legislature created the framework to legalize recreational marijuana, tax revenue has funneled tens of millions of dollars into conservation programs across the state.<\/p>\n

But a coalition of conservation-oriented organizations on Wednesday said they are concerned that the governor\u2019s office and the state legislature might try to reduce or reallocate the \u201chistoric investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a really, truly groundbreaking achievement we had never before in Montana, set aside a single funding source to address so many of these different priorities,\u201d said Noah Marion, state policy director for Wild Montana. \u201cWe\u2019ve come to rely on this investment as Montanans, and it\u2019s critical that we continue to build on this foundation that was set up in 2021 and defended in 2023. And here we are again in 2025 looking to defend it once more.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the state Legislature passed laws around legal marijuana use during the 2021 session, the tax revenue framework funneled 20 percent to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, to be used by Habitat Montana, a program that pays for permanent easements and maintenance. Additionally, 4 percent is allocated each to state parks, trails and recreational facilities and non-game wildlife.<\/p>\n

Fiscal projections from the last biennium showed that funding would reach $9.3 million for Habitat Montana and $1.86 million for the three other conservation funds by fiscal year 2027.<\/p>\n

Among the more than 4,000 bill requests currently before the 69th Legislature are four related to revising the distribution of marijuana tax revenue, though none of the bills have been drafted yet.<\/p>\n

However, Gov. Greg Gianforte\u2019s (R) budget contained a new proposal to provide $1 million over two years to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to fund water storage projects around the state. The proposal is contingent on legislation \u201cthat redistributes certain marijuana tax revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a December meeting, a budget analyst from the governor\u2019s office indicated that while the details of legislation were still in flux, there will be a proposal to bring two of the smaller 4 percent conservation funds down to 3 percent, but it was not clear which accounts would be reduced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just no need to reduce or eliminate these funds to these essential programs,\u201d Marion said. \u201cMontana is once again in a very strong fiscal position, with historic surpluses.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the press event at Capital Sports in Helena, representatives from Wild Montana, Montana Wildlife Federation, Montana Trails Coalition and the Montana State Parks Foundation made their opposition to any reduction in funding clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontanans\u2026we\u2019re really good at this. When we see something good that we want to do, then we figure out a way to get it done,\u201d said Chris Marchion, a board member with Montana Wildlife Federation. \u201cWe need to take these monies that we have and invest them where we can get the best return for our wildlife and for our public going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Smith, board vice president of the Montana State Parks Foundation and former deputy director of Fish Wildlife and Parks, said the biggest challenge for his department was providing adequate funding for the state parks program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been underfunded in terms of the potential value it provides to the people of Montana,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe marijuana funding that we received in state parks since 2020 has been incredibly important and will be increasingly important in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the recent acquisition of a parcel of land near Judith Landing, Montana has 56 state parks that have seen vast increases in visitation in recent years.<\/p>\n

The conservation groups also mentioned that Montanans have a clear appetite for funding conservation measures, pointing to a measure last session to expand allocations of marijuana revenue that passed with overwhelming support before Gov. Gianforte vetoed it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is that Montana can afford, and Montanans want to honor this ongoing commitment to public lands, state parks, trails and wildlife conservation,\u201d Marion said. \u201cThere\u2019s a real growing concern among our population, here in Montana, that the state is changing, it\u2019s growing and to protect the Montana that we all love, the reason we all live here, we need to protect these investments.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Daily Montanan.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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NRA Says Federal Ban On Marijuana Amid State-Level Legalization Has Created \u2018Confusing\u2019 Legal Landscape For Gun Owners<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Montana Conservation Groups Urge Officials Not To Take Away Marijuana Revenue Support<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Montana Conservation Groups Urge Officials Not To Take Away Marijuana Revenue Support<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019ve come to rely on this investment as Montanans, and it\u2019s critical that we continue to build on this foundation.\u201d By Micah Drew, Daily Montanan In the four years since the Montana Legislature created the framework to legalize recreational marijuana, tax revenue has funneled tens of millions of dollars intoContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79742,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79741\/revisions\/79742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}