The Gallatins Deserve Permanent Protections

I’d heard the stories. Soaring peaks, crystal-clear creeks, thick forests and massive meadows with abundant wildlife and unparalleled opportunities for adventure. A wild, undeveloped, unfragmented landscape where wildlife like grizzly bears, elk, and wolverines have the freedom to roam in and out of neighboring Yellowstone National Park and across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.  

But until this summer, the Gallatin Range was just a story to me. Raising my family in Jackson, Wyoming, with my previous conservation work focused across the West in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, I hadn’t had the chance to develop a connection and relationship with this place. When I began working at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition nearly two years ago and joined our collaborative effort to permanently protect 250,000 acres of public land in the Madison and Gallatin ranges, I knew I needed to see it for myself.  

Craig Benjamin holds a "Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation -- 250k acres" sign on the Gallatin Crest Trail. (Photo Tom Page)

For generations people have been passionately debating how to manage the Gallatin Range. They argued at community meetings, litigated, and attempted to collaborate, but after decades of discussion, the Gallatins remained the only Montana mountain range bordering Yellowstone National Park without permanent protections. That’s why in 2016 a coalition of conservationists, recreationists, business owners, sportsmen, and landowners who call the Madison and Gallatin ranges home decided to work together to find a realistic solution to protect this remarkable landscape.  

Understanding that protecting a landscape this large and important requires a community-centered approach and tailored solutions, this widespread coalition of locals created a grassroots proposal called the Gallatin Forest Partnership Agreement. This agreement proposed the protection of 250,000 acres in the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges, securing wildlife habitat, wilderness, and recreation access. Nearly 2,000 conservationists, business owners, and recreation advocates endorsed the Gallatin Forest Partnership, and in 2022 the Custer Gallatin National Forest adopted a new forest plan that largely reflects the agreement.  

But these protections are not permanent. It will take an act of Congress to permanently protect the Gallatins. So, this community-led coalition of locals is now proposing legislation – known as the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act – to permanently protect 250,000 acres of public land in the Madison and Gallatin ranges and balance protecting the right to access the outdoors with protecting our priceless wildlands and wildlife. Which brings us back to our story.  

I decided this summer was the summer I was going to experience the Gallatin Range first-hand. My favorite way to get to know a place is trail running, so I set off to run the Gallatin Crest Trail with a good friend who co-owns a conservation-oriented cattle and hay operation in Idaho.  

We initially planned to start at the Buffalo Horn Trailhead, located within an area the act will resolve part of the politically precarious Wilderness Study Area (which could be removed at any time by Congress) and designate it as the Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wildlife and Recreation Management Area. This designation will maintain access to all trails in this area, but prevent trail expansion, development, and timber harvest to protect wildlife. We’d end at Hyalite Creek. But 42 miles is a long way and a forecast for afternoon storms forced us to change plans and begin our adventure at the Portal Creek Trailhead.  

We pulled up to the trailhead just before sunrise and waited for a few minutes for first light, wanting to savor the entire experience. We ascended to Windy Pass Cabin and entered one of the most spectacular meadows I’ve ever seen. As the sun rose over the Absarokas, we gained the crest of the Gallatin Range. Despite smoke from western wildfires obscuring the mountains in the distance, the views were awe-inspiring.  

For the next 15 miles our route followed the spine of the Gallatins, with peaks and meadows as far as we could see in the smoke. Our conversation turned to the conservation challenges of our time. Preventing conflicts between wolves and livestock, managing mounting pressure from outdoor recreation, the ever-increasing impacts of climate change, political polarization, and the fact that the Gallatin Range borders some of the fastest-growing communities in Montana.  

After 17 miles without seeing a soul, we sucked wind up Hyalite Peak and reached the high point of our journey. This incredible stretch of land we had just traversed deserves better than languishing as a precarious Wilderness Study Area, it deserves to get designated as permanent Wilderness, which is exactly what the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will do by designating the Gallatin Wilderness Area running from the base of Hyalite Peak to the boundary of Yellowstone National Park.

Craig and Tom run the Gallatin Crest Trail with wildflowers underfoot and mountain ridgelines overlapping on the horizon. (Photo GYC/Craig Benjamin)

As we dropped off Hyalite Peak, we finally saw another person as we entered the area the act will designate as a watershed protection and recreation area. This will protect water quality while ensuring access to some of the area's most popular trails in Hyalite Canyon and the Bozeman Creek and South Cottonwood drainages. Nearly eight miles later we finally arrived at our car, exhausted, exhilarated, and inspired to once-and-for-all conserve this special place. 

While this was my first time in the backcountry of the Gallatin Range, I know one thing, these mountains deserve permanent protections. Which is why I’m proud to support the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act.  

There’s a wide range of opinions on how to protect the Gallatins. People have been arguing for two generations about how to get it done, and in the meantime, Montana is rapidly growing and changing. We have a duty to make common-sense choices today so our kids and grandkids can enjoy the Montana way of life in the future. If we’re not willing to roll up our sleeves and work together, then threats to this special landscape will only get worse.  

That’s why we’ve developed a balanced, realistic, compromise solution that will protect drinking water, provide balanced access to outdoor recreation, conserve wildlife habitat, and stop further development to forever protect these lands for all of us. That’s exactly what the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will do. Please join me and your friends and neighbors in endorsing the act.

 — Craig Benjamin | Conservation Director, Greater Yellowstone Coalition