5 Things to Know: The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act

This piece was originally published on the Wild Montana blog.

The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act is a community-driven piece of legislation that will designate new wilderness, protect unprotected wildlands, and preserve existing recreation while ensuring it doesn’t overextend into wild areas in a rapidly growing corner of Montana.

To simplify the act’s complexities, we’ve broken down the key details.

Winter sets in across the Madison and Gallatin ranges. (Photo Louise Johns)

The proposed legislation designates 124,000 acres of new permanent Wilderness

The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act designates 124,000 acres of new Wilderness: 102,000 acres in the Gallatin Range and 22,000 in the Madison Range. These designations provide permanent protection against motorized and mechanized recreation; they prohibit building roads and permanent structures; and they prevent all commercial logging. Wilderness designation is permanent, meaning that once an area is designated as Wilderness, it will be managed to maintain “permanent protection for foot and stock use only” forever.

The proposed legislation does not expand recreation. 

Under the terms of the act, motorized and mechanized uses (snowmobiles, mountain bikes etc.) will only be permitted in places where they are already legally allowed. No motorized or mechanized use will be allowed within designated Wilderness areas. Accordingly, the act will designate as Wilderness all areas of the current Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area that are currently closed to motors and bicycles.

The proposed legislation adds protections for Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn that go beyond wilderness study area designation.

Currently, the wilderness study area permits motorized and mechanized uses that were well established before the 1977 wilderness study area designation. (It’s also important to note that the 1977 Wilderness Study Area Act does not require that wilderness study areas be managed in accordance with the Wilderness Act.) The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act prevents these uses from expanding, restricting them to their current footprint. Put another way, motorized and mechanized use will only be allowed in places where it already legally occurs and predates WSA designation. All areas of the WSA that are currently closed to wheels and motors will be designated as Wilderness. 

The areas of the WSA that are not designated as Wilderness will be designated as wildlife management and recreation areas and watershed protection and recreation areas. These areas have long-established motorized uses that prevent Wilderness designation, including the Big Sky Snowmobile Trail, which was designated for snowmobile use in 1969. The 31,000-acre Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wildlife and Recreation Management Area runs along the east side of Highway 191 from north of Big Sky to north of Taylor Fork. It permanently prevents the expansion of motorized and mechanized recreation, timber harvest, and industrial development. The wildlife and recreation management area would also place limits on trail building, which currently is not limited within the wilderness study area.

The proposed legislation enhances protection for the Hyalite area.

The act creates new protections for 70,000 acres around Hyalite Canyon, Sourdough Canyon, and South Cottonwood Creek in the northern Gallatin Range. The Hyalite Watershed Protection and Recreation Area designation prohibits timber harvest and trail building within the current Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn WSA boundary. It also permanently prevents the expansion of motorized use across the entire 70,000 watershed protection and recreation area.

Currently no protections against trail building exist within the WSA. WSA status also does not provide permanent protection against increased motorized use across the entire 70,000-acre area.

The proposed legislation protects areas that do not currently have protection.

The act’s watershed protection and recreation area and wildlife management and recreation area designations extend beyond the borders of the current WSA to areas that currently have no protections. Currently unprotected parts of Hyalite Canyon, the Porcupine and Buffalo Horn drainages, West Pine, and Cowboy Heaven and the southern Madison Range will all receive protective designations to preserve wilderness character, protect water quality, and preserve wildlife habitat and migration corridors.

The Gallatin and Madison ranges deserve permanent protection, and we can’t afford to wait. The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act is a common-sense way to designate new Wilderness, protected unprotected wildlands, and prevent recreation from expanding while protecting everything we love about these places.

Make your voice heard and endorse the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act today.

— Zach Angstead, Wild Montana