Now is Our Time to Protect the Madison and Gallatin Ranges

This piece was originally published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

August in Montana is a time to enjoy nature and cool air in the mountains. Here, wildflowers bloom prolifically and the woods provide a break from the summer sun. It’s a time to jump in alpine lakes and keep an eye out for bears as they, and we, forage for huckleberries.

The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act protects these experiences by forever preserving 250,000 acres of public lands in the Gallatin and Madison ranges.

An alpine lake in the Gallatin Range. (Photo Louise Johns)

Locally, many of us turn to the Madison and Gallatin ranges for time outdoors. We’re lucky to have such an awesome backyard. They’re some of the wildest places left in the continental US. It’s no wonder folks from across the country and world are eager to spend a vacation experiencing the Montana way of life or to set down roots here.

I love seeing how people new to the Gallatin Valley and longtime locals alike find joy in these public lands. Whether it’s camping with family and friends, exploring the trails, or rambling along ridgelines, people enjoy these mountains in many different ways.

As trailheads get busier, now is the time to make sure we’re protecting the Gallatin and Madison ranges. It’s a delicate balance to ensure recreation use and access can continue without losing the wilderness and wildlife that make these mountains so special. And while the Forest Service did put new protections in place in the 2022 Forest Plan, these are not permanent.

That’s why I support a realistic solution to permanently protect the Madison and Gallatin ranges.

The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will protect critical habitat for a wide range of species along with ensuring the outdoor recreation activities people enjoy today are maintained, without tipping the balance away from wilderness and wildlife.

Whether it’s hiking, biking, skiing, wildlife watching, snowmobiling, or hunting, current recreation access will be preserved so we can all do what we love in this place. To protect wildlife habitat and wilderness, trails and other recreation infrastructure will not expand beyond their current footprint in sensitive wildlands.

The act will designate nearly 124,000 acres of new Wilderness to preserve open space, solitude, and wildlife habitat. The new Gallatin Wilderness would stretch from the base of Hyalite Peak to Yellowstone National Park, while in the Madison Range, a Wilderness designation for Cowboy Heaven would finally connect the Spanish Peaks and Bear Trap units of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness.

Clean water flowing into the Yellowstone, Madison, Gallatin Rivers – and your tap – will be safeguarded so that we can continue to access healthy drinking water, sustain strong fish populations, and enjoy all our favorite river activities.

Mining, new roads, and other industrial development will not be allowed. Logging would be limited to areas essential for protecting our communities and critical watersheds from the threat of extreme wildfire.

People have been working to protect the Madison and Gallatin ranges for decades. This act, which is the result of many years of hard work, negotiation, and yes, compromise, from a broad group of community members, is a realistic solution to create permanent protections for these mountains.

It builds off the conservation efforts of previous generations, considers new challenges such as climate change and unprecedented growth, and respects the needs of the wildlife and humans who call this corner of Montana home.

Nine in ten Montanans believe it’s important to permanently protect the Madison and Gallatin ranges. Now is our time to permanently protect these ranges – for all of us and for future generations. 

Hilary Eisen is the policy director at Winter Wildlands Alliance and a member of the Gallatin Forest Partnership.