Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) spearheaded a bipartisan Senate resolution honoring the 110th anniversary of the National Park Service, drawing support from 64 of his colleagues, including Montana’s junior senator, Tim Sheehy. The anniversary fell on August 25, coinciding with the final week of August, which has been designated as National Park Week.
Bipartisan Support
Daines, who chairs the Senate National Parks Subcommittee, partnered with Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, to lead the resolution. The unusually broad coalition of 64 signatories reflects wide congressional interest in the parks system, even as debates continue in Washington over federal land management and agency budgets.
Daines framed the parks as a foundational American institution. “America’s national parks are true national treasures worth protecting,” he told the Daily Montanan. “These parks are America’s crown jewels, and we will cherish them for generations to come.”
King struck a more cautionary note. “As our parks continue to face serious staffing and funding challenges, National Park Week is an important reminder of our responsibility to protect these special places,” he said, as reported by the Daily Montanan.
National Park Week Events
The week’s programming includes themed daily events — Watch Wildlife Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, Freedom Friday, Staff Saturday, and Junior Ranger Day on Sunday, August 30. A fee-free day at National Park Service sites was offered earlier in the week, lowering the barrier for families to visit parks without entrance costs.
Multiple NPS locations are holding special programming throughout the week in connection with the anniversary celebration.
Montana’s Parks and Political Context
Montana is home to several major national park units, including Glacier National Park, making the state’s congressional delegation naturally attentive to NPS policy. Daines has positioned himself as a leading voice on public lands issues through his subcommittee chairmanship, and Sheehy’s signature on the resolution signals alignment with that posture as the freshman senator works to establish his profile on Western land issues.
The resolution comes at a moment when the future of federal land management — including staffing levels and funding at parks agencies — remains a live debate in Washington. Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration signaled its own priorities on energy and land use, including through an energy task force that examined the structure of state regulatory bodies. Federal parks policy and state land policy often intersect in Montana, where millions of acres of public land shape the economy and quality of life.
The anniversary resolution is symbolic rather than legislative, but Daines’s role in leading it underscores the political salience of public lands stewardship heading into the November general election, when Montana’s statewide races — including Sheehy’s first full cycle — will be decided on November 3.
