Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship (CRS) is a national grassroots organization demonstrating that conservation is a core conservative principle, grounded in stewardship, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and respect for America’s natural heritage.
With more than 26,000 members nationwide, CRS has built a powerful network of hunters, anglers, ranchers, business leaders, veterans, faith leaders, outdoor enthusiasts, and other conservatives who believe protecting America’s natural resources is both good policy and a conservative value.
Through grassroots advocacy, direct engagement with policymakers, coalition building, and media outreach, CRS has helped secure meaningful policy victories protecting taxpayers, public lands, wildlife, energy consumers, and America’s natural resources.
Major 2026 Accomplishments (so far)
Public Education on Energy: Had a series of op-eds published—along with numerous radio interviews—highlighting the energy cancel culture targeting wind and solar that has emerged on the political right and asking the question: What ever happened to “All of the Above.”
Oil Well Clean-up and Taxpayer Protection: As part of a coalition, secured oil and gas bonding reforms in Utah that will better protect Utah taxpayers and encourage energy companies to adequately plug wells and clean up well sites when they end production.
Methane Reduction: Helped secure photographic overflights of the Uinta Basin to show how natural gas is being wasted through flaring at oil well sites.
Building Public Awareness on Mine Threat: Made funding available to allow creation of a coalition website opposing the proposed Johnson Tract Mine in Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park.
Expanded Media Outreach: In February, CRS hired an experienced communications director to beef up the organization’s media outreach and help amplify our messaging. This strategic move has significantly increased our media coverage and includes securing dozens of radio interviews, having our press statements picked up by wire services like Associated Press, being mentioned by prominent news outlets, and further expanding our social media outreach.
Major 2025 Accomplishments
Public Education on Energy: Ran a unique and effective media campaign pointing to the elected Arizona utility commission as responsible for high electric bills. The ground-breaking effort combined billboards, digital ads, and social media influencers to drive home and reinforce the same message over and over again.
Defending Wild Places: Helped defeat legislation to permanently allow a Chilean mining company, Antofagasta PLC, to create a toxic copper and nickel sulfide mine just upstream of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Unfortunately, the Trump administration allowed the mine to go forward anyway.
Protecting Public Lands: Helped derail Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) proposal to sell off millions of acres of U.S. public lands managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
Orphaned Oil Wells: CRS conducted an extensive media campaign defending the 2024 oil and gas bonding reforms that protect taxpayers from bearing the costs when companies abandon wells without fulfilling their plugging and clean-up obligation. This included appearances on national conservative talk radio.
Notable Exposure: CRS had a booth and significant presence at the Conservative Climate Summit hosted at the University of Utah by U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT).
Membership Milestone: CRS crossed the 25,000-member threshold.
Major 2024 Accomplishments
Oil and Gas Leasing Reforms: CRS was instrumental in securing long overdue oil and gas bonding reforms to finally protect taxpayers from the all-too-common practice of companies skipping out on their well plugging and clean-up obligations by increasing the bond amount required of drillers to sufficiently cover the cost.
CRS also played a key role in preventing a Congressional Review Act resolution designed to undue those reforms, introduced by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), from being voted on by the Senate. Our media effort in Montana helped pressure Daines into backing off.
Derailing Development of Florida Parkland: CRS alerted the public to a proposal to develop Florida state parks with hotels, golf courses, and pickleball courts, and helped drive bipartisan opposition to the plan that caused Governor Ron DeSantis to disown and effectively kill the plan.
A Victory for Rooftop Solar in Nevada: CRS worked to derail NV Energy’s proposal to triple its monthly basic service charge for customers in Northern Nevada. The plan to hike such fees was designed to boost profits by forcing customers who reduce their electricity consumption through measures such as rooftop solar to pay a much higher service charge.
Utah Methane Reductions: Along with coalition partners, CRS advanced an effort by the Utah Division of Air Quality to develop a state methane reduction plan that would comply with the Biden administration’s national methane rule.
Older Accomplishments
Grizzly Bear Protections: CRS opposition to petitions by Montana and Wyoming to remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears contributed to the Biden Administration’s decision to deny those petitions. 2024
A Victory for Rooftop solar in Florida: CRS played a pivotal role in securing Governor Ron DeSantis’s veto of legislation that would have eliminated net metering and imposed new barriers on rooftop solar in Florida, helping preserve consumer choice and competition in the state’s electricity market. CRS generated conservative support for the veto in numerous appearances on conservative talk radio across the state. 2022
Oil and Gas Leasing Reform: CRS helped advance long-overdue reforms to federal oil and gas leasing as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, that increased royalties, discouraged speculative leasing, and strengthened environmental safeguards. 2022
Unprecedented Conservative Climate Engagement: CRS conducted a major conservative education and outreach effort in Florida, doing in-person presentations about climate and clean energy to more than ___ conservative and Republican clubs across the state.
Nationally, we conducted more than 50 radio interviews on conservative talk radio addressing clean energy and climate-related issues. 2021-2023
Nevada Renewable Energy Standard: CRS engaged in a major education and advocacy campaign in support of a proposed renewable energy standard in Nevada that included regular meetings with Republican state senate and assembly members, candidate education, and in-person presentations to Republican Women’s clubs across the state. The effort secured 100% Republican support and unanimous passage of the standard. 2019
Defending America’s National Monuments: CRS filed amicus briefs supporting lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s reductions of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, arguing that the plain language of the Antiquities Act provides presidents with authority to establish monuments, but not to reduce or otherwise roll them back.
Opposing Extremism: CRS was a very vocal opponent of the Obama administration allowing Cliven Bundy and his sons to defy federal law and use armed supporters to threaten law enforcement. brought attention to the threat posed by anti-government extremism and efforts to undermine federal stewardship of America’s public lands. Our well-reasoned conservative arguments resulted in an invite to testify before Congress. 2016
Energy Efficiency Standards: CRS was instrumental in blocking efforts to roll back lighting efficiency standards that were part of a bipartisan energy bill George W. Bush signed into law in 2006. CRS went on talk radio to debunk myths about the phase out of incandescent light bulbs.
