Trust for Public Land Farm Bill Lobbying Reaches $170,000

By Nathan Brooks

Trust for Public Land’s combined third-quarter lobbying totaled $170,000 as the group pressed its conservation positions in the House’s 2026 farm bill debate. H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, is headed to the House Agriculture Committee.

The in-house team reported $150,000, unchanged from the second quarter and up $135,000 from the third quarter of 2025. Conservation Pathways LLC added a $20,000 filing that named Alan Front as lobbyist, bringing the client’s combined total to $170,000.

That combined amount was down $20,000 from the second quarter’s $190,000 and up $105,000 from $65,000 in the third quarter of 2025. The second-quarter total included a $20,000 Smith Garson termination filing; Smith Garson ended its work and had no third-quarter filing.

The $170,000 represents a combined client total across two registrations, and the available summary does not allocate it to individual measures.

Lobbying team and registrations

The group’s in-house filing named four lobbyists:

• Jessica Montoya, senior director of federal affairs for park equity.
• Bart Johnsen-Harris, director of federal climate change policy and a former intern for Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI).
• Reed Perry Jr., director of federal relations for trails and tribal lands and a former legislative aide to Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).
• Mike Bybee, legislative director.

A Congressional Research Service primer describes the bill’s conservation provisions. The lobbying filings identify reported income and registered lobbyists, but they do not reconcile the competing spending figures or show how money would move among programs.

Conservation groups split on the bill

A letter signed by 233 organizations urges Congress to oppose the House Agriculture Committee’s bill. It cites a $1 billion cut to a conservation program the coalition calls “oversubscribed.” Signers include the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and League of Conservation Voters.

The Nature Conservancy instead urges passage. It says the legislation provides about $6 billion a year for conservation, and its research estimates $1.58 in returns per federal dollar. The figures come from opposing organizations; the summary does not identify the $1 billion program or explain the research method.

What does the farm bill change for producers?

For producers, the disclosures show no immediate payment, input-cost or commodity-basis change, and no acreage or yield estimate. They point instead to conservation spending. The $1 billion cut and $6 billion annual total need reconciliation against bill text, while the $1.58 estimate needs its underlying research method before either side’s claims guide spending.

Appropriations set the next funding test

Congressional Research Service data show enacted fiscal 2026 Interior and Environment appropriations totaled $42.56 billion, $809 million below fiscal 2025. Rep. Mike Simpson introduced H.R. 9171, the fiscal 2027 Interior bill, on June 5.

Save the Redwoods League opposes redirecting Land and Water Conservation Fund money to deferred maintenance, saying the change would divert $900 million a year. Trust for Public Land praised appropriators’ bipartisan funding agreement on Jan. 6.

Defense conservation and trail access

Trust for Public Land’s filing also lists the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration program, or REPI. H.R. 1083, introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), would amend REPI; it had 18 cosponsors, including Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and its Senate companion is S. 439.

The department’s 2026 REPI report says the program protected more than 1.4 million acres at 141 locations. That is a program-reported result, not an independent tally; the source does not supply the report’s acreage methodology or an earlier-year comparison.

H.R. 105 would increase Land and Water Conservation Fund support for recreational public access projects on federal land. On April 27, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) introduced the Active Transportation for Public Lands Act, H.R. 8514.

Trust for Public Land is among the listed supporters of the Great American Outdoors Act 250, introduced June 10 by Huffman and Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.).

Across complete quarters, the clearest financial change is Smith Garson’s exit. Its $20,000 termination filing appeared in the second quarter, while the combined client total fell $20,000 to $170,000 in the third quarter and the in-house amount held at $150,000.

Committee action on H.R. 7567 and the fiscal 2027 Interior debate will test whether proposed conservation spending and public-access changes match the figures both sides are citing.