KEY MESSAGING

Southwest Montana’s Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges are some of the wildest places left in the continental United States and help define who we are as Montanans. They provide clean drinking water to our communities, critical wildlife habitat to a wide range of species, and remarkable hunting, fishing, riding, and recreation access. These lands embody the Montana way of life.

Montana is rapidly growing and changing. The Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges border some of the fastest-growing communities in the state. While the ranges have some protections under the current Forest Service management plan, these protections are not permanent. 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.

The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act is proposed legislation that will permanently protect 250,000 acres of public land in the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges. The act is a realistic solution developed by a widespread coalition of locals. It 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.

TALKING POINTS

• The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act is a realistic solution to permanently protect 250,000 acres in the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges, and the resources, activities, and freedoms they provide.

• The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will conserve areas for wildlife migration, protect the headwaters of the Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers, maintain existing recreation uses, and designate nearly 124,000 acres of new Wilderness. 

• Nine in ten Montanans believe it’s important to permanently protect the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges.

• The act will safeguard clean drinking water by limiting the development of these public lands.

• The act will protect these public lands for recreation, water, and wildlife. Mining, new roads, and other industrial development will not be allowed on these lands. 

• The act will create new permanent protections for five areas in the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges protecting 250,000 acres while ensuring established recreational access and freedoms are protected. 

• The act will protect existing mountain bike, motorized, and non-motorized recreation access across the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges. 

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

• The act will protect iconic wildlife and critical habitat, while also maintaining recreation access.

• The act will ensure iconic wildlife like grizzly bears, elk, osprey, native cutthroat trout, bobcat, and more can thrive here, just like they have for millennia.

• Locals have been working to protect the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges for decades. This act is a realistic solution to create permanent protections for these mountains. 

• Without permanent protections, the Madison and Gallatin ranges – and the clean water, wildlife, and recreation access they hold – are at risk from development.

BACKGROUND

The Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges are located just outside Yellowstone National Park and extend roughly 155 miles across Montana near Bozeman, Big Sky, Livingston, and West Yellowstone.

Since 2016, the Gallatin Forest Partnership (GFP) has been advocating for permanent protections for these ranges that will protect drinking water, conserve core wildlife habitat, and maintain access to recreation and our public lands. The Gallatin Forest Partnership is a coalition of recreationists, business owners, sportsmen, landowners, and conservationists who call the Madison and Gallatin ranges home and are committed to finding a realistic solution to protecting this remarkable landscape.

The community-led Gallatin Forest Partnership created a grassroots proposal called the Gallatin Forest Partnership Agreement. This agreement proposes the protection of 250,000 acres in the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges, securing wildlife habitat, wilderness, and recreation access.

The Gallatin Forest Partnership has been endorsed by 1,700 citizens, business owners, and recreation advocates. Recently, the Gallatin and Madison County Commissions endorsed the GFP and proposed legislation, the Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act.

In 2022, a new Custer Gallatin Forest Plan was adopted by the Forest Service to help protect the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges. The forest plan largely reflected the GFP agreement, a win for the coalition, Montanans, and the wildlife that call these mountains home, but these protections are not permanent. It will take an act of Congress to permanently protect the Madison and Gallatin ranges.

The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act is legislation that will permanently protect 250,000 acres in the Madison and Gallatin mountain ranges. The act was born from the Gallatin Forest Partnership Proposal, and is the next step in ensuring these ranges are protected long into the future. The legislation was unveiled in June of 2024.