The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will safeguard clean water by limiting development in the region’s most critical watersheds.

All the designations established by the act protect headwater streams that feed the beloved Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers by preventing new roads, mining, and industrial development. This protects our drinking water and the cold, clean water that wildlife need and our favorite river activities rely on.

The 70,000-acre Hyalite Watershed Protection and Recreation Area protects clean water in Hyalite Canyon, Bozeman Creek, and South Cottonwood drainages by allowing the Forest Service to maintain all recreation access while also responsibly managing recreation pressure in these busy areas.

The act will also protect drinking water by providing the Forest Service the options they need to manage fire and reduce the risk of catastrophic fires that are becoming more common in the face of climate change.

The act also focuses on maintaining healthy river systems by maintaining healthy forests. By preventing development and supporting the Forest Service’s ability to reduce wildfire risk, the act is preventing erosion and protecting water quality for the communities, wildlife, and fish downstream.

The Montana way of life is about protecting public lands, water, and wildlife, and ensuring access to the outdoors for all to respectfully share. The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will designate 250,000 acres to help conserve our state’s thriving wildlife populations that migrate through the Gallatin and Madison ranges and provide balanced access to the outdoors Montanans deserve.

The act will designate nearly 124,000 acres of new wilderness in the Madison and Gallatin ranges. It will create the nearly 102,000-acre Gallatin Wilderness Area and add 22,000 acres of wilderness to the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area.

The Gallatin Wilderness Area will run from the south end of Hyalite Lake to the boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The Gallatin Wilderness Area will include the majority of the Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area.

The legislation will also add 22,000 acres to the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area in the Madison Range. It will designate 15,000 acres in the area known as Cowboy Heaven, which connects the Spanish Peaks unit of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness and Bear Trap Canyon Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Area on the west side of the Madison Range, and add nearly 6,400 acres to the Taylor Hilgard Unit at the range’s southern end.

It will designate 31,000 acres at the southern end of the Gallatin Range 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.

The act will also designate an additional 25,000 acres in the northeast of the Gallatin Range as the West Pine Wildlife and Recreation Management Area. This designation will permanently protect the area from mining and new roads. It will also protect the area from logging that necessitates new road building. This designation will allow the Forest Service to manage for fire and protect private lands in the front country while maintaining undisturbed wildlife habitat in the backcountry.

The legislation will designate 70,000 acres in Hyalite Canyon and the Bozeman Creek and South Cottonwood drainages as a watershed protection and recreation area. This will protect water quality while ensuring access to some of the area's most popular trails.

The act ensures that the high quality hunting, fishing, and recreation access that Montanans enjoy today will be protected for future generations.

The bill protects existing popular recreation access, including all the trails in Hyalite, the Porcupine Creek and Buffalo Horn trails near Big Sky, and West Pine and North Dry outside of Livingston.

The 31,000-acre Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wildlife and Recreation Management Area at the southern end of the Gallatin Range will protect the existing dirt bike, snowmobile, and mountain bike access in this area, including on trails like the Big Sky Snowmobile Trail, Porcupine Creek, and Buffalo Horn. Simultaneously, it will protect wildlife by ensuring the trail footprint does not expand and fragment wildlife habitat.

The legislation will designate 70,000 acres in Hyalite Canyon and the Bozeman Creek and South Cottonwood drainages as a watershed protection and recreation area. This will protect water quality while ensuring access to some of the area's most popular trails.

The 25,000-acre West Pine Wildlife and Recreation Management Area designation will ensure continued mountain bike access on all system trails in the West Pine area and provide for the building of two new trails: one that will connect the West Pine area with the Bear Lakes Trail, and one to link the West Pine Trail with the North Dry Creek Trail.

These two loop trails are designed to create safer opportunities for hikers, bikers, and horsemen on the east side of the range while reducing trailhead congestion by eliminating the need for car shuttles.

The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will protect this wild, undeveloped, unfragmented landscape so wildlife has room to roam.

The boundaries of the protective designations established by the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act were drawn after thorough analysis of wildlife migration data for the area, and designed to ensure wildlife have access to the habitat, resources, and freedom of movement they need to thrive.

In addition to designating nearly 124,000 acres of new wilderness – securing core habitat for iconic wildlife – the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will protect wildlife by limiting new trail construction and prohibiting oil and gas leasing, mining, and new roads in the area addressed by the legislation.

The legislation will improve protections for ungulates like elk, mule deer, moose, and bighorn sheep by increasing protections for key winter habitat. By freezing the trail footprint in the Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wildlife and Recreation Management Area, the act protects wildlife during sensitive times of year.

The Gallatin Range is a key migratory corridor that allows wildlife to move north from Yellowstone in search of the food and refuge they need to survive. The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will protect this range and ensure that wildlife can move as climate change progresses.