LINCOLN, NE – Today, American Stewards of Liberty will host its anti-land conservation summit in Lincoln, Nebraska with special guests including Governor Pete Ricketts (R-NE), U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and former U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt among others. The group, which has claimed land conservation efforts have their roots in Hitler’s Germany, is billing the event as their opportunity to “spoil … Earth Day.” In response, government watchdog Accountable.US released the following statement:

American Stewards of Liberty refuses to tell the truth about the America The Beautiful land conservation initiative because they know preserving our land and water for future generations is broadly popular with the American people. Following the money can help explain the motivations behind American Stewards’ lies. At times the group has spent most of the money it raises paying the husband-wife duo who run it.”

Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US

Earlier this week, the Lincoln Star Journal published an op-ed column by Herrig previewing the summit and making the case for the America the Beautiful land conservation initiative while also pointing to American Stewards’ history of misleading the public about the effort and its penchant for self-dealing. The group has paid as much as 94 percent of its revenue as salary to its husband-wife executive duo, with a substantial portion of the money coming from the more than $700,000 it has taken from local governments that struggle to pay for basic services.

Additionally, Accountable.US is running an extensive digital advertising campaign in Nebraska and Washington, D.C. targeting Governor Ricketts and Secretary Bernhardt for aligning themselves with a fringe group like American Stewards. A mobile billboard has also been dispatched to Lincoln in an effort to educate summit attendees about American Stewards.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

American Stewards of Liberty has difficulty discerning fact from fiction. In addition to their bizarre claim that land conservation efforts have their roots in Hitler’s Germany, the group’s leaders have claimed such efforts are akin to the Stalin-engineered Ukrainian genocide of the 1930s and promoted a wild conspiracy theory that land conservation is a United Nations ploy to subvert property rights.

It is hardly surprising then that American Stewards is spreading lies about President Biden’s land conservation agenda. It is lying when it claims the America The Beautiful initiative (sometimes called 30 x 30) is “the largest federal land grab our nation has ever faced.” In truth, it is no “land grab” at all. The initiative seeks to conserve U.S. lands and waters using EXISTING laws and VOLUNTARY protections and easements, which are the right of every property owner.

To help educate the public about American Stewards’ lies, fringe beliefs, and funding, Accountable.US released a detailed research dossier about the group on Monday

 

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