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Zinke headlines governors' annual meeting in Whitefish

by Daniel McKay
Whitefish Pilot | June 13, 2017 4:13 PM

Secretary of the Interior and former Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke is set to deliver the keynote address at the Western Governors’ Association annual meeting in Whitefish later this month.

The conference is set to begin at 1 p.m. on Monday, June 26 and conclude by noon on June 28. All meeting sessions will be held in the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.

Zinke is set to address the group on Tuesday, June 27 and then hold a roundtable discussion with participants, according to the agenda for the event.

The annual meeting focuses on discussion of significant issues facing the West, including conversations on energy security, U.S. relations with Canada and the Western Governors’ National Forest and Rangeland Management Initiative.

One of the roundtable discussions will examine the growth of microbreweries and craft distillers across the West. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock will moderate a session highlighting work on his policy initiative for national forest and rangeland management.

Ten governors have registered to attend the meeting, including WGA Chair and Bullock, as well as Dennis Daugaard (South Dakota), Matt Mead (Wyoming), Brian Sandoval (Nevada), Gary Herbert (Utah), Bill Walker (Alaska), David Ige (Hawaii), Doug Burgum (North Dakota), John Hickenlooper (Colorado), Butch Otter (Idaho), and Ralph Torres (Northern Mariana Islands).

The meeting will also feature guest speakers such as pollster Frank Luntz, alpinist Conrad Anker and Academy Award winning actor Jeff Bridges. Canadian Premiers Brian Pallister (Manitoba) and Brad Wall (Saskatchewan) will also be in attendance.

The Western Governors’ Association includes the governors of 19 western states, along with governors from the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. Established in 1984 through the merger of two governors’ organizations, the Western Governors’ Association aims to help these top state leaders with bipartisan policy development and information exchange, and is an avenue for collective action on critical issues.

For more information and to register for the meeting, visit https://www.westgov.org/.