According to leading wildlife biologist Dr. Lance Craighead, the Gallatin Range provides critical habitat for a variety of imperiled species. Now, recently proposed legislation could determine the fate of this landscape for generations to come. Photo by David Tucker
EDITOR’S
NOTE:David Tucker is a regular contributor to Mountain Journal and has
been working as a journalist in the GYE for more than a decade. He volunteers
with The Dirt Concern, the Bozeman chapter of the Southwest Montana Mountain
Biking Association.
by David Tucker
From
Hyalite Lake to Big Horn Peak and from the Taylor-Hilgards to Cowboy Heaven, Montana’s
Gallatin and Madison ranges are as iconic as it gets. In June, the
Gallatin Forest Partnership, a coalition of conservation and
recreation groups,
unveiled a bill that, if passed, could determine the fate of these landscapes
for generations to come.
The bill,
known as the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act, would create
102,000 acres of Wilderness in the Gallatin Range, much of it within the
155,000-acre Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area.
Additionally, it would tack 22,000 acres onto existing units of the Lee Metcalf
Wilderness and codify certain recreational activities that have languished in
legal limbo for decades.
It’s not
the first time Wilderness has been proposed for the Gallatin Range. In 1988,
the dream of a Gallatin Wilderness nearly became reality when a public lands
bill made it to Ronald Reagan’s desk, but the President “pocket vetoed” the
bill, neglecting to sign it before the Congressional session ended. That bill included 62,100 acres of
Wilderness in the Gallatins, about 60 percent of what is being considered in
the GFP proposal.
“There’s a
long history of the Gallatin Range being included in various Wilderness
proposals since the 1970s,” Barb Cestero,
Had it passed in 1988, the Montana Natural Resource Protection and Utilization Act would have designated 64,100 acres of the Gallatin Range as Wilderness. The recently proposed Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act calls for 102,000 acres of Wilderness in the Gallatins and an additional 22,000 acres in the Madison Range. Map courtesy The Wilderness Society
Greater Yellowstone-High Divide landscape
director for The Wilderness Society explained to Mountain Journal. “This
proposal has effectively secured what we have never had before: a solid Wilderness
recommendation for the heart of the Gallatin Range.”
In the
latest Forest Plan finalized in 2022, the Custer Gallatin recommended 78,071
acres of Wilderness along the Gallatin Crest within the WSA, and another 14,461
acres in the Sawtooth area, based largely on GFP efforts, Forest Supervisor
Mary Erickson acknowledged in her Record of Decision.
This endorsement
from the Forest Service was a first for the landscape. “Previously, the Forest
Service had recommended zero acres of Wilderness for that landscape, so that’s
a really important first step in going to Congress with a proposal,” Cestero
said.
In
addition to the new Wilderness, the act includes 126,000 acres with development
and recreation limitations that GFP members believe also benefit wildlife and
ecosystem health. “Folks think that capital-W Wilderness is the only way to
protect wildlife habitat. I think that’s wrong,” Wild Montana federal legislative
director Zach Angstead said in an interview with Mountain Journal. “There
are other avenues. We’ve explored those avenues and included the ones we see as
realistic while keeping the existing recreation access intact.”
Because certain
recreational uses within the Gallatin Range predate the 1977 Montana Wilderness
Study Act, any new Wilderness bill concerning this landscape is unlikely to
include the trails where these activities took place historically, bill proponents
suggest. Lawsuits in 1996 and 2007 sought clarity around these issues of
motorized and mechanized uses within the WSA, and determinations were made that allowed for continued use
while prohibiting expansion.
“The idea that there might be a Wilderness connection through the Greater Yellowstone, that’s really what we need in the face of climate change.” – Cathy Whitlock, Regents Professor Emerita, Montana State University
Due to the
lawsuits, the Custer Gallatin issued interim summer and winter access orders and closed specific
trails to motorized and mechanized use where it had previously been allowed. The
Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act would codify these interim
orders, forever legalizing the non-Wilderness-conforming historic uses and
releasing the relevant lands from the WSA, although not removing them from
consideration in future Wilderness bills.
“The
Wilderness Society thinks this is the best proposal we can bring forward given
the longstanding uses in the landscape,” Cestero added. “We’ve built on what
they did in the Lee Metcalf designation to protect those areas that have
recreation that is not compatible with Wilderness. We can still conserve them
from future development so that they provide the wildlife habitat that they
currently provide.”
When
Congress established the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in 1983, it also set aside the
Cabin Creek Wildlife Management Area, over 100,000 acres of prime wildlife
habitat between the Taylor-Hilgard and Monument Mountain units of the Lee
Metcalf. At the time, motorized use had already been established in Cabin
Creek, leading policymakers to preclude the Wildlife
The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act calls for a spectrum of management designations across the Madison and Gallatin Ranges, including WIlderness, Wildlife and Recreation Management Areas and a Watershed Protection and Recreation Area. While the proposal would add 124,000 acres of Wilderness, opponents suggest that total is inadequate considering the more than 230,000 acres of eligible lands across the region. Map courtesy Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Management Area from the
Wilderness designation.
While the
Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act may set a new highwater
mark for agency-recommended Wilderness and new Wilderness acreage, some
long-time advocates believe the GFP proposal falls short of what’s needed to
protect wildlife and their habitats.
“I could
not have been more dismayed at what careful research of the content of the proposed
legislation has revealed,” former Montana state legislator Dorothy Bradley said.
“The centerpiece of wilderness in this area is the 155,000-acre WSA. They
indicate the majority will become permanent Wilderness, but if you look under
the carpet, 92,000 [acres] will become Wilderness. That’s a bare majority. It’s
fair to call that a postage stamp.”
Clint Nagel,
president of the Gallatin Wildlife
Association, agrees. “The Forest Service is proposing 78,000 acres, and
most of that is rock and ice,” Nagel said in discussing the legislation with Mountain
Journal. “There’s hardly any advantage to wildlife to preserve that as
Wilderness. The GFP came out with 92,000 acres. Both of those are totally
inadequate.”
According
to a 2015 study by Dr. Frank Lance Craighead,
species migrate out of Yellowstone National Park and through the Gallatin and
Madison ranges seasonally in search of food and shelter. “The WSA, along with
the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park, to which it is connected
physically and ecologically, has long been a refuge for beleaguered wildlife
populations,” Craighead writes.
However, an
increasing human presence threatens to overrun this refuge. “Fragmenting the
HPBH WSA into smaller pieces of protected habitat would greatly diminish its
value for wildlife habitat and the provision of ecosystems services, and could
nullify its ability to function as a refuge from climate change,” he continues.
The
uncertainty climate change presents is reason enough to push for maximum
Wilderness, Cathy Whitlock, Montana State University Regents Professor Emerita,
told Mountain Journal.
“The climate
information isn’t
very specific, but the spirit of maximum protection in this time of rapid
change just makes sense,” she said. “What’s the exact number acreage? Who can
say, but wildlife is only going to be under more stress as we go into the
future.”
For
Whitlock, connected Wilderness could protect wildlife from some of that
additional stress. “The idea that there might be a Wilderness connection
through the Greater Yellowstone, that’s really what we need in the face of
climate change,” said Whitlock, who was lead author for both Montana’s and Greater
Yellowstone’s climate assessments. “I’m skeptical about some of the backcountry
recreation impacts not affecting wildlife, especially given the growing
recreation economy in the Greater Yellowstone.”
Headwaters streams like Hyalite Creek across the Gallatin and Madison ranges nurture wildlife populations while also serving the human needs of a growing downstream population. How we prioritize these ecosystem services is an ongoing debate with roots reaching back generations. Photo by David Tucker
Former
state legislator Bradley says restraint is a small price to pay. “We’re talking
about species that are in danger of going extinct, and all of this is a
trade-off so more people can have fun,” she said. “This has become a referral
about recreation. It has so little to do with true Wilderness.”
For GWA’s
Nagel, it’s a zero-sum game. “Is a little bit better than nothing at all? I
would say no. The hope is that the fight continues and we get as much Wilderness
as we can. Not so we can go hiking or backpacking, but to protect habitat that
is there.”
That habitat
includes much of the Wilderness-eligible acreage left out of the GFP’s
proposal. “When you consider the total inventoried roadless [acreage] that is
in the Gallatin Range, to say you’re only going to come up with half of what’s
potential, that’s a heck of a compromise, that’s already based on a compromise.
The only group that hurts is wildlife,” Nagel added.
From the GFP’s
perspective, perfect should not be the enemy of good. “The biggest threat is
inaction,” said Cestero of The Wilderness Society. “Given that neither the
Forest Plan protections nor the WSA designation are permanent, now is the time
to create some certainty when we need it most.”
With the
legislation proposed, the Gallatin Forest Partnership is in the process of
securing a sponsor for introduction, and members believe the bill’s
collaborative foundations are politically appealing. “This bill will take care
of one of the biggest WSAs in the state,” said Wild Montana’s Angstead. “It’s
very balanced, and delegation members like Senator [Steve] Daines see that as a
very important step.”
While the
legislative wheels are in motion, the timeline for introduction, not to mention
passage, is anyone’s guess. The Blackfoot
Clearwater Stewardship Act,
which includes 80,000 acres of new Wilderness and was reintroduced by Senator
Jon Tester in 2023, has been in the works for well over a decade.
“Given that neither the Forest Plan protections nor the WSA designation are permanent, now is the time to create some certainty when we need it most.” – Barb Cestero, Greater Yellowstone-High Divide Landscape Director, The Wilderness Society
“Who knows
what the next 10 years brings in Montana politics?” Angstead added. “We’ve
created something durable that can be passed by Congress. I believe we can get
it done in the next six months to five years.”
This
political reality is not lost on Whitlock. “If you said ‘would you take this
package or have no wilderness at all,’ that would be a hard one for me to walk
away from. Saving something now and waiting for the next opportunity is
probably the right thing to do, but we need to always be thinking about
maximizing wilderness because it’s such a rare commodity. There are a lot of
places people can recreate.”
In the
meantime, Clint Nagel is preparing to circle the wagons. “The fight probably
means litigation at some point,” he said.
Mountain Journal is a nonprofit, public-interest journalism organization dedicated to covering the wildlife and wild lands of Greater Yellowstone. We take pride in our work, yet to keep bold, independent journalism free, we need your support. Please donate here. Thank you.
About David Tucker
David Tucker is a freelance journalist covering conservation, recreation and the environment in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
While
conservation groups have largely praised the new plan to govern bison
populations within Yellowstone, Montana’s governor and its ag community are
concerned about...