The act will safeguard wildlife, clean water, and outdoor recreation and connect the vast wildlands that still define this fastest-growing corner of Montana.
Wild Montana is one of the founding members of the Gallatin Forest Partnership, the coalition who developed the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act. We’re rallying community support for the proposed legislation. Over 1,000 community members, business owners, recreationists, and conservationists have endorsed the proposal, and it’s time for Montana’s congressional delegation to introduce the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act in Congress.
The Madison and Gallatin ranges are the traditional lands of the Apsaalooké (Crow), Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis (Kootenai), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux), Pikuni (Blackfeet), Ql̓ispé (Pend d’Oreille), Séliš (Salish), Shoshone-Bannock, and Tséstho’e (Cheyenne).
The clean rivers and creeks flowing from the Madison and Gallatin ranges support healthy native trout populations. provide clean drinking water to some of Montana’s fastest-growing communities.
Grizzly bears, elk, wolverine, and other animals thrive here, in one of the wildest and most undeveloped places in the Lower 48.
Residents and visitors want to preserve the area’s world-class hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, riding, and other recreational opportunities.
Montana is growing fast, and it’s going to take all of us working together to keep the Madison and Gallatin ranges wild.
Learn more about the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act and lend your support.
Southwest Montana’s Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges are some of the wildest places left in the continental United States. They provide clean drinking water to our communities, critical wildlife habitat to a wide range of species, and remarkable hunting, fishing, riding, and recreation access.
They’re also adjacent to some of Montana’s fastest-growing communities and under increasing pressure. Now is the time to protect them once and for all.
In 2017, Wild Montana helped bring together conservationists, hunters, anglers, mountain bikers, horseback riders, and others to develop a shared vision for the future of this area. Ever since, the Gallatin Forest Partnership has been committed to protecting the habitat, clean water, and outdoor recreation that make this area so special.
The partnership developed a comprehensive proposal recommending 124,000 acres of Wilderness and 126,000 acres of other conservation designations across the Madison and Gallatin ranges to protect wildlife habitat, clean water, and existing recreation.
In 2022, after rounds of public comment, the Custer Gallatin National Forest incorporated much of the GFP proposal into its forest plan. The final plan was a big step in the right direction, but it didn’t sufficiently address other areas that deserve protection. Additionally, the Forest Service will have to restart this planning process all over again in 15 years, meaning the gains we made aren’t permanent.
Now, we’re pursuing federal legislation – the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act – to expand on the designations included in the forest plan and permanently protect the habitat, clean water, and recreation that make this place so special.
Contact Zach Angstead, federal legislative director, at zangstead@wildmontana.org or learn more at greateryellowstoneact.org.
