The Need to Designate New Wilderness in the Gallatin and Madison Ranges
When I first moved to Montana to attend Montana State University, I took the first long weekend to explore my new wild backyard: the Gallatin Range. My new roommate and I set off from campus intent on adventure. Following classmates’ recommendations, we set our sights on camping below Hyalite Peak and making our way into the wild heart of the Gallatins. It was a cold fall, but we survived the first night and summited Hyalite the next day. From there, we worked our way deeper into the range, swimming in alpine lakes and exploring the wildlands along the Gallatin Crest.
A hiker explores the Gallatin Range. (Photo Louise Johns)
It was obvious to me then and it’s obvious to me still: this place deserves permanent protection. The Gallatin Range and its western neighbor the Madison are some of the last truly wild places in the continental United States. Grizzly bears, elk, osprey, native cutthroat trout, and bobcats thrive here. High alpine streams feed iconic rivers like the Yellowstone and Gallatin, lifelines for wild ecosystems and communities alike. These places are also popular sanctuaries for people seeking solitude, open space, and connection to nature.
They also border some of the fastest-growing communities in the state, which means they’re under ever-increasing pressure from development. While parts of the ranges have some protections under the current Forest Service management plan, these protections are not permanent.
The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will increase and expand protections across a vast swath of the Madisons and Gallatins – forever.
It’s a unique opportunity to permanently protect 124,000 acres of new Wilderness as part of a larger effort to conserve 250,000 acres across both ranges. These permanent protections will ensure clean water, thriving wildlife, and the kind of peace and solitude that makes Montana’s wild places so irreplaceable.
In the heart of the Gallatin Range, the act will establish the nearly 102,000-acre Gallatin Wilderness Area stretching from Hyalite Peak to Yellowstone National Park. It will forever safeguard the vast majority of the Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area, which has been at the core of wilderness proposals for decades.
In the Madison Range, the legislation will expand the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area by 22,000 acres. It will designate 15,000 acres in the northwestern Madisons, connecting Cowboy Heaven to the Spanish Peaks Unit of the Lee Metcalf and the Bear Trap Canyon Wilderness Area. It will also designate an additional 6,400 acres in the Taylor Hilgard Unit in the southern part of the range.
Wilderness designation does not allow motorized or mechanized recreation; it prohibits building roads and permanent structures; and it prevents all commercial logging and development. Wilderness designation is permanent, so once an area is designated as Wilderness, it will be managed to maintain permanent protection for foot and stock use only.
Montana has a storied wilderness legacy. The state’s first federally designated Wilderness, the Bob Marshall, set a national standard for conservation back in 1964. Since then, Montanans have helped secure an additional 15 wilderness designations, including the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness, the nation’s first tribally designated Wilderness area. Unfortunately, Wilderness designations in Montana have been few and far between in recent years – Montana hasn’t seen a new standalone Wilderness since way back in 1983, and the last Wilderness addition of any sort was contained in 2014’s Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act.
Why have new Wilderness designations been in short supply? Because only Congress can designate new Wilderness, and Congress has not supported many Wilderness proposals in the last 40 years. That’s why the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act is so special: it’s a popular, real-life, common-sense Wilderness proposal that Congress can support. It will protect a historic amount of Wilderness in our backyard, accomplishing a goal that’s been out of reach for decades.
Designating these lands as Wilderness is about more than lines on a map. It’s about protecting Montana’s way of life. Wilderness ensures clean, cold water for drinking and fish habitat, protects critical wildlife pathways, and offers people a chance to experience the outdoors on its own terms. In a world where wild places are increasingly rare, Wilderness is a promise that some things will remain forever unchanged. It preserves not just land, but a way of life – one rooted in respect for the outdoors and a commitment to future generations.
We need your voice to help protect these irreplaceable lands. By supporting the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act, you can help ensure that the Gallatin and Madison ranges remain wild and free for generations to come. Join us in preserving Montana’s Wilderness legacy—speak up today for the wildlife, waters, and wild lands that make this place extraordinary. Together, we can keep Montana wild.
– Zach Angstead, Wild Montana