Wild Montana (formerly Montana Wilderness Association) is a grassroots conservation organization founded by a group of
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
outfitters, ranchers, doctors, and friends.
["Wild Montana Special 60th Anniversary Newsletter" Wild Montana, November 29, 2018, http://wildmontana.org/wild-life/wild-montana-fall-2018] The organization is governed by a board of directors from across Montana, working at the local level through seven chapters in
Helena,
Bozeman,
Missoula
Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...
,
Whitefish,
Great Falls,
Billings
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...
, and
Butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...
. Each chapter is governed by a local board of directors. Since 1958, Wild Montana has worked to protect Montana's wilderness, wildlife habitat, and traditional recreation opportunities. The organization was instrumental in the passage of the 1964
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act of 1964 () was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected 9.1 million acres (37,000 km²) of federal land. The result of a lon ...
and in the designation of every
Wilderness area in the state, like the
Bob Marshall,
Scapegoat, and
Absaroka-Beartooth Wildernesses. It also helped win
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System designations for the
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
and
Flathead rivers, and National Monument status for the
Upper Missouri River Breaks.
Origin
Wild Montana was founded in 1958, originally named Montana Wilderness Association, by Ken and Florence Baldwin. The grassroots organization's mission was and is to preserve wilderness and influence policy on public land management.
Wild Montana began as a group of individuals sharing the goal of protecting the heritage of Montana's wildlands and securing the proper management of public lands. The group was inspired by similar wilderness-oriented individuals and associations around the nation at the time. John Muir had recently founded the Sierra Club and was very active in protecting Yosemite; Aldo Leopold wrote about the ethics involved in conservation and was a co-founder of the Wilderness Society; Bob Marshall wrote several essays about conservation in forestry publications and was also a founder of the Wilderness Society. Wild Montana is the nation's premiere Wilderness grassroots organization and was significantly influential in the passing of the
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act of 1964 () was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected 9.1 million acres (37,000 km²) of federal land. The result of a lon ...
by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. With the passing of this Act came the designation of the first
Wilderness areas: The
Bob Marshall Wilderness
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Area is a congressionally-designated wilderness area located in Western Montana region of the United States. It is named after Bob Marshall (1901–1939), an early forester in the federal government, conservationist, a ...
Complex,
Cabinet Mountains
The Cabinet Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains, located in northwest Montana and the Idaho panhandle, in the United States. The mountains cover an area of 2,134 square miles (5,527 km2). The Cabinet Mountains lie south of the Purcell M ...
, the
Gates of the Mountains, the
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, and
Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness.
Major campaigns
* Badger-Two Medicine: The 130,000-acre Badger-Two Medicine lies on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, bounded on the north by Glacier National Park and the east by the Blackfeet Reservation. The Great Bear and Bob Marshall Wilderness Areas lie to the west and south. The Badger-Two Medicine is a designated Traditional Cultural District under the National Historic Preservation Act because of its significance to and ongoing use by the Blackfeet Nation. In June 2013, Mountain States Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of lessee Sidney Longwell of Solenex, LLC to lift the suspension on the Hall Creek lease. In response to the lawsuit and as a result of the incredible outpouring of support for the Badger-Two Medicine, Secretary of the Interior
Sally Jewell cancelled Sidney Longwell's lease and two other illegally issued leases; however, Sidney Longwell and the Mountain States Legal Foundation – along with another former leaseholder, W.A. Moncrief Jr. – continue to challenge the cancellations in court and pursue their desire to drill in the Badger-Two Medicine. Wild Montana is working with the
Blackfeet Nation
The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...
to prevent drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine and permanently protect it.
["The Fight for the Badger-Two Medicine Continues" Wild Montana, April 9, 2019, http://wildmontana.org/wild-word/the-fight-for-the-badger-two-medicine-continues]
* Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project: On March 2, 2017, Senator Jon Tester introduced the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act, a grassroots proposal hammered out by the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project (BCSP), which would add 80,000 acres to the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Mission Mountains Wilderness Areas and forever safeguard Grizzly Basin, Monture Creek, the North Fork of the Blackfoot River, and the West Fork of the Clearwater. The BCSP is a coalition of local loggers, ranchers, outfitters, conservationists, snowmobilers, business owners, and outdoor recreationists in the Ovando and Seeley Lake area. Wild Montana is a member of the BCSP. Permanent protection of the
Blackfoot River's most important tributaries will help preserve the health of the entire Blackfoot River watershed, as explained in a five-minute film Wild Montana produced called
Hallowed Waters: The Legacy and Lifeblood of the Big Blackfoot. Wild Montana is encouraging
Senator Jon Tester to reintroduce the bill in 2019, and is also asking Senator
Steve Daines
Steven David Daines ( ; born August 20, 1962) is an American politician and former corporate executive serving as the junior United States senator for Montana since 2015. A Republican, he served as the U.S. representative for Montana's at-lar ...
and Congressman
Greg Gianforte to support the bill.
* Custer Gallatin National Forest: The
Custer Gallatin National Forest
The Gallatin National Forest (now known as the Custer-Gallatin National Forest) is a United States National Forest located in South-West Montana. Most of the Custer-Gallatin goes along the state's southern border, with some of it a part of North- ...
, which includes the
Gallatin Range
The Gallatin Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains, located in the U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming. It includes more than 10 mountains over . The highest peak in the range is Electric Peak at .
The Gallatin Range was named after ...
, recently began the process of revising its forest management plan, which will determine how these lands are managed for the next 15 to 20 years. Congress designated the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area in 1977, but
Bozeman,
Belgrade, and
Big Sky have nearly tripled in size since then. In 2016, Wild Montana joined a diverse group of stakeholders called th
Gallatin Forest Partnership (GFP) which is committed to crafting recommendations for the Custer Gallatin National Forest management plan revision.
* Lewistown area: In May 2019, the
Bureau of Land Management released the second version of a resource management plan (RMP) draft directing how the agency's Lewistown Field Office will manage 650,000 surface acres of public lands in central Montana over the next 20 to 30 years. The Lewistown area is also known as "the wild heart of Montana", because it is one of America's last and largest intact prairie ecosystems, supporting one of the most productive populations of ungulates in North America and a thriving host of grassland bird species. The preferred management option
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...
presented in the draft RMP would protect none of this area, and instead would open up almost all of it to oil and gas development and other uses that would diminish the wild character, and wildlife habitat. Wild Montana is encouraging Montanans to comment on the RMP.
Programs
* Wild Montana offers Wilderness Walks each summer so members and the public can explore new trails and meet new people. Free hikes, field trips, backpacking adventures, and snowshoe outings are led by experienced volunteers.
* The Volunteer Trail Crew program allows members and the public to assist land management agencies across the state through boots-on-the-ground service. Typical project work includes constructing new trails, signage installations, "logging out" or opening trails for the season, and maintaining existing trails.
* Wild Montana maintains hikewildmontana.org, an online hiking guide, with information about trails around the state, nearby restaurants, and descriptions of hikes.
* Get Out the Vote: in 2018 Wild Montana created the Public Lands in Public Hands campaign to keep America's public lands from being transferred to individual states and sold off to private interests and to build public support for the protection and expansion of Montana's outdoor way of life. Of pledges collected, 55 percent came from 18 to 24-year-olds, 19 percent came from 25 to 34-year-olds, and 26 percent came from Montanans 35 and older.
["Civic Engagement" Wild Montana (last visited May 2019), http://wildmontana.org/our-work/protecting-public-lands/civic-engagement]
Highlights
1958 – Ken and Florence Baldwin found Montana Wilderness Association (now Wild Montana). Wild Montana was the nation's first state organization centered on protecting wilderness and the proper management of public lands.
1960 – Wilderness Walks begin in the summer of 1960 when Wild Montana founders Ken and Florence Baldwin lead 14 hikers into the Crazy Mountains. Inspired by the positive feedback they received the next year, they set out with a group of 40 hikers to Table Mountain in the Spanish Peaks. As Wilderness Walks grew in popularity, Ken and Florence continued to lead walks around the Bozeman area and began recruiting other wildland enthusiasts to help lead hikes across the state. Wilderness Walks continue today.
1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Wilderness Act, creating Wilderness Areas in Montana: such as the
Bob Marshall Wilderness
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Area is a congressionally-designated wilderness area located in Western Montana region of the United States. It is named after Bob Marshall (1901–1939), an early forester in the federal government, conservationist, a ...
,
Cabinet Mountains
The Cabinet Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains, located in northwest Montana and the Idaho panhandle, in the United States. The mountains cover an area of 2,134 square miles (5,527 km2). The Cabinet Mountains lie south of the Purcell M ...
, the
Gates of the Mountains, the
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, and
Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness.
1972 – Congress designates the Lincoln-Scapegoat Wilderness as proposed by Wild Montana members. This marks the first time an area is recommended by someone other than the U.S. Forest Service. Because Wild Montana activists proposed the idea, this wilderness is also known as the "first citizen's wilderness".
1975-1980 – Wild Montana members secure designations for the Great Bear, Rattlesnake, Absaroka-Beartooth, Mission Mountains, Welcome Creek, UL Bend, Medicine Lake, and Red Rock Lakes areas.
["Wilderness Areas" Wild Montana (last visited May 2019), http://wildmontana.org/discover-the-wild/public-lands-101/wilderness-areas.]
1981 – Along with other conservation groups, Wild Montana members counterattack the "Bomb the Bob" attack, a plan to retrieve oil and gas from the
Bob Marshall Wilderness
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Area is a congressionally-designated wilderness area located in Western Montana region of the United States. It is named after Bob Marshall (1901–1939), an early forester in the federal government, conservationist, a ...
. "The Bob" is the most ecologically complete mountain wilderness in the country, with rugged peaks, big river valleys, lakes, large meadows and extensive coniferous forests. There are more than 100 lakes in the wilderness and major streams have their beginning there including the blue ribbon South Fork Flathead. The Bob is the last great stronghold of the silvertip grizzly and is home to every species of mammal indigenous to the Northern Rockies except for Plains Bison.
1983 – The
Lee Metcalf Wilderness
The Lee Metcalf Wilderness is located in the northern Rocky Mountains in the U.S. state of Montana. Created by an act of Congress in 1983, this rugged alpine wilderness is divided into four separated parcels typified by complex mountain topography: ...
is designated. This Wilderness Area is an important component of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and is crucial grizzly habitat.
1988 – The last Wilderness bill passes
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, but President
Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
pocket-vetoes the bill as a favor to elect Senator
Conrad Burns
Conrad Ray Burns (January 25, 1935 – April 28, 2016) was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Montana and later was a lobbyist. He was only the second Republican popularly elected to represent Montana in the Senat ...
.
1990 – Wild Montana leads the
Kootenai
The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...
and
Lolo National Forest
__NOTOC__
Lolo National Forest is a national forest located in western Montana, United States with the western boundary being the state of Idaho. The forest spans 2 million acres (8,000 km2) and includes four wilderness areas; the Scapegoat a ...
Accords. Spearheaded by John Gatchell, the Accords brought together conservationists and sawmill workers in support of the preservation of huge swathes of roadless land in northwestern
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
. A corresponding bill identifying Wilderness and timberland is introduced in 1991 by Montana Senator
Max Baucus
Maxwell Sieben Baucus ( Enke; born December 11, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the long ...
, but doesn't make it through Congress.
1994 – Wild Montana members lead an attempt at another Wilderness bill. Montana representative led the way and the bill passed in the House. Conversely, neither senator supported the bill and it was not considered in the Senate. Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Conrad Burns were senators at this time.
2003 – Members again lead an act to protect
Wilderness Study Areas. The
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
states that the
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
has a legal obligation to keep the wild character of seven wilderness study areas in Montana. The
Lewis and Clark National Forest
Lewis and Clark National Forest is located in west central Montana, United States. Spanning , the forest is managed as two separate zones. The eastern sections, under the Jefferson Division, is a mixture of grass and shrublands dotted with "islan ...
proposes a controversial Rocky Mountain Front Travel Plan which would allow motorized travel in the area. In response, Wild Montana helped generate, tally, and analyze 7,600 comments on the plan, causing the Forest Service to scrap it.
2007 – Wild Montana participates in the Blackfoot Cooperative Landscape Stewardship Pilot Project, a plan that added to the Bob Marshal/Scapegoat/Mission Mountains Wilderness complex.
2005-2008 – Snowmobilers and wilderness advocates in
Seeley Lake agree to a proposal that added more wilderness in exchange for an established winter recreation area. By 2008, the group reaches consensus on a suite of forest management goals, including the addition of 80,000 acres to the
Mission Mountains
The Mission Mountains or Mission Range are a range of the Rocky Mountains located in northwestern Montana in the United States. They lie chiefly in Lake County and Missoula County and are south and east of Flathead Lake and west of the Swan Ra ...
,
Scapegoat Wilderness, and
Bob Marshall Wilderness
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Area is a congressionally-designated wilderness area located in Western Montana region of the United States. It is named after Bob Marshall (1901–1939), an early forester in the federal government, conservationist, a ...
Areas, a move that would safeguard the West Fork of the
Clearwater River (a stream crucial for bull trout) and the wildlife-rich slopes of the
Swan Range
The Swan Range is a mountain range in western Montana in the United States. Its peaks typically rise to around . The range is bounded by the South Fork Flathead River to the east, the Flathead River to the north and northwest, the Swan River to ...
above Seeley Lake.
["Redefining Conservation in the 21st Century" Wild Montana (last visited May 2019), http://wildmontana.org/our-work/protecting-wild-places/the-blackfoot-clearwater-stewardship-project]
2012 – Wild Montana begins its Volunteer Trail Crew program to keep trails up to standard for public use and enjoyment,
["Volunteer Trail Crew" Wild Montana (last visited May 2019), http://wildmontana.org/discover-the-wild/volunteer-trail-crew] as well as begins encouraging Montana citizens to sign a pledge card to vote for public lands.
2014 – The
Rocky Mountain Front
The Rocky Mountain Front is a somewhat unified geologic and ecosystem area in North America where the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains meet the plains. In 1983, the Bureau of Land Management called the Rocky Mountain Front "a nationally signif ...
Heritage Act, crafted by a local coalition of ranchers, outfitters, Wild Montana staff, and other Montana conservationists, passes at the end of 2014, breaking a 31-year
Wilderness drought in Montana and adding 67,000 acres to the
Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex consists of three wilderness areas, all within the U.S. state of Montana totalling over 1.5 million acres (6,100 km²). The largest wilderness area is the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area consisting of 1 mill ...
.
2016 – Local members of the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project (BCSP) reach an agreement with the
International Mountain Bicycling Association
The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is a non-profit educational association whose mission is to create, enhance and preserve trail opportunities for mountain bikers worldwide.
IMBA was formed in 1988, when five California-based ...
, the Montana Mountain Biking Alliance, and local mountain biking club MTB Missoula on the BCSP's legislative proposal. The agreement would ensure new backcountry cycling opportunities while continuing to protect secure habitat and free-flowing headwaters.
2013-2019 – In 2013, Mountain States Legal Foundation files a lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of lessee Sidney Longwell of Solenex, LLC to lift the suspension on the Hall Creek lease. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell cancels Sidney Longwell's lease and two other illegally issued leases, but Sidney Longwell and the Mountain States Legal Foundation – along with another former leaseholder, W.A. Moncrief Jr. – continue to challenge the cancellations in court and pursue their desire to drill in the Badger-Two Medicine. In March 2016, the
Department of the Interior (DOI) cancels the Solenex lease and, in January 2017, cancels the final two leases. On November 16, 2016, the largest leaseholder, Devon Energy, agrees to voluntarily relinquish its 15 leases. In September 2017, Washington, D.C. District Court Judge Richard Leon rules in favor of Solenex and Moncrief and reinstates their leases, arguing the government had waited too long to cancel the leases. In 2019, DOI announces it will not defend its own cancellation of one of two leases remaining in the Badger-Two Medicine.
2021 – On June 3, 2021, Wild Montana announced that the organization was embarking on a new era with a new name: Wild Montana. With the name change came a change to the organization's logo and mission statement – now "Uniting and mobilizing communities to keep Montana wild."
See also
*
Biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
*
Conservation biology
*
Ecology movement
The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advoc ...
*
Ecology
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...
*
Environmental protection
Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...
*
Environmentalism
Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks ...
*
Habitat conservation
Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in te ...
*
Natural capital
Natural capital is the world's stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Some natural capital assets provide people with free goods and services, often called ecosystem services. All of t ...
*
Natural environment
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses ...
*
Natural resource
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...
*
Renewable resource
A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...
*
Sustainability
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official siteDoris and Kelsey C. Milner Papers(University of Montana Archives)
Cecil Garland Papers(University of Montana Archives)
Environmental organizations based in Montana
Non-profit organizations based in Montana
1958 establishments in Montana