Montana 2024 Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy. (Courtesy Tim Sheehy campaign)
Montana’s Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy failed to disclose to the U.S. Senate that he was a board member of the Property and Environment Research Center, a “free market environmentalism” nonprofit think-tank based in Bozeman, prior to his run for office.
The omission by Sheehy in the two reports he has filed so far for 2023 and 2024 is technically a violation of Senate ethics rules, which require candidates to report any position held during the previous two years. He did report being a board member of two other nonprofits.
HuffPost first reported on Sheehy’s failure to disclose the position on Wednesday.
Sheehy’s campaign did not respond by a provided deadline Thursday to questions about the omission, his time on the board, and his stance on several public lands policies. His campaign told HuffPost the omission was an oversight and that it would amend the campaign report.
The Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) reported in its 2022 IRS Form 990 that Sheehy was a member of its board of directors who received no compensation. Up through last week, according to web archives, the organization’s website also listed him as a board member.
Kat Dwyer, a spokesperson for PERC, said Sheehy was elected to the board in the fall of 2022 and left once he announced his run for office last June.
“Tim was elected to the board due to his relevant background as a successful local entrepreneur in the areas of forest health, wildfires, and ranching, all conservation issues we are engaged in,” Dwyer said.
PERC was founded in 1980 as a self-described property rights and environmental organization and focuses on what it calls “free market environmentalism.”
“Rather than filing lawsuits or advocating for regulations that make conservation a liability, we advance legal and policy reforms that respect property rights, expand incentives for voluntary stewardship, and empower people to advance conservation through markets,” the organization’s website says.
Some of the organization’s more recent work includes pushing for conservation leases on federal land. A Bureau of Land Management final rule will allow for restoration and mitigation leases.
The organization has also pushed for changes to the National Environmental Policy Act to try to cut down on review times for proposed fuel reduction projects, and for changes to how conservation projects and protections for federal public lands are funded.
“PERC believes conservation is most effective and lasting when it is voluntary, cooperative, and makes economic sense — when there are incentives to make conservation an asset, not a liability,” Dwyer said in describing the company’s “free market environmental” ethos.
In 1999, the organization’s former executive director wrote that he wanted to auction off “all public lands over 20 to 40 years.” In 2016, PERC advocated for having each national park run as its own standalone business, Outside Magazine reported.
It has also in the past pressed for surcharges at national parks for international visitors and stopping the expansion of the national park system.
Other reports published by PERC over the past two decades questioned how much humans were contributing to global climate change and whether predictions from the International Panel on Climate Change were sound. The IPCC is a United Nations body that includes 95 member countries and thousands of scientists and other experts on climate change that compile assessments of climate change, its impacts and future risks.
Former PERC executive director Terry Anderson was one of the State of Montana’s expert witnesses at the Held v. Montana trial and presented himself as the founder of “free market environmentalism.”
He presented data about greenhouse gas emissions that the judge in the case wrote “was not well-supported, contained errors, and was not given weight by the Court.”
In response to questions about some of those papers and stances from the past, Dwyer said many were more than 20 years old and written by people no longer affiliated with the organization.
“They do not reflect PERC’s thinking,” Dwyer said. She added that PERC “firmly believes that public lands should stay in public hands” and pointed to several of its more recent policy pushes as representing its current stances.
The group has ties to Donors Trust, which Mother Jones previously reported sent significant money to climate change denial groups. PERC board member Kimberly Dennis was a co-founder of Donors Trust. But PERC has also worked with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Yellowstone National Park, the Interior Department, Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups on projects, according to the organization.
Dwyer said the company rejects being labeled a “right-wing” think tank by HuffPost and some other organizations.
“PERC is a non-partisan conservation organization dedicated to conserving land, water, and wildlife through innovate market and incentive-based solutions,” Dwyer said. “PERC proudly works with policymakers across the political spectrum, including with the Biden administration on issues like forest restoration, wild horse adoption incentives, migration corridor conservation, and virtual fencing technology.”
Sheehy, who runs aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace, shares similar ideas as PERC when it comes to litigation delaying or halting forest management projects. On his website, he says, “We also need to stand strong against the radical environmentalists who are suing and shutting down timber projects with frivolous litigation.”
Sheehy has also decried as a candidate what he calls the “climate cult” despite Bridger Aerospace previously marketing itself as fighting climate change before Sheehy started his campaign.
HuffPost first reported last year that Sheehy in October talked about giving control of some federal public lands to the state or local governments.
But his website says, and his campaign has reiterated, that Sheehy “believes public lands must stay in public hands.”
“Tim believes Montanans know best how to manage our land, not the Washington bureaucrats. Tim believes it’s important we listen to the voices of local communities when considering public lands policy. Tim opposes a federal transfer of our public lands. Tim opposes the sale of our public lands. Tim supports better stewardship of our public lands, including through active forest management,” the website says.
In May, NBC News reported Sheehy’s cattle ranch does not participate in Montana’s Block Management Program that allows hunters access to private land adjacent to public lands.
Public lands and access to them are overwhelmingly important to Montanans. The 2024 Public Lands Survey from the University of Montana’s Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative found 83% of respondents said federal public lands benefitted Montana’s economy, and nearly half said conservation issues were “very important” in deciding which candidates to support politically.
But across the political spectrum, Montanans said conservation issues were an important part of backing a candidate, including 98% of Democrats, 84% of independents, and 71% of Republicans.
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