Montana has 7,968,942 acres of BLM lands and 16,932,702 acres of National Forests. The last wilderness designated in Montana was in 1983, the Lee Metcalf Wilderness.
Campaigns
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest
- Summary:
- A campaign to designate 570,000 acres of forest spanning the Continental Divide and headwaters to trout streams that flow both east and west. The area, which encompasses the Great Basin, the shortgrass prairie, and the northern and middle Rocky Mountains, is home to wolves, bears, elk, lynxes, and wolverines. Half the plants native to Montana can be found in this forest, through which pass both the Nez Perce National Trail and portions of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Among the special places that would be protected are the magnificent West Big Hole country, the East Pioneers, and the wild Sapphire Mountains, home to the Ross Fork of Rock Creek, a quiet backcountry paradise.
- More info:
- Montana Wilderness Association
Blackfoot River Valley
- Summary:
- A campaign to designate as wilderness 75,000 acres in the North Fork Blackfoot-Monture Creek and 6,000 acres in Grizzly Basin in the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat Wilderness Areas, as well as 6,000 acres in the headwaters of West Fork Clearwater River. Tributaries of the Blackfoot River flow from a series of rugged mountain basins in an area dotted with waterfalls, streams, and glacial lakes. Mountain goats traverse limestone cliffs, and the entire area is habitat for elk, mule deer, lynxes, and bears.
- More info:
- Blackfoot Cooperative Landscape Stewardship Pilot Project
Scotchman Peaks
- Summary:
- Spanning the Idaho/Montana state line just east of Sandpoint, Idaho, the 80,000-acre proposed Scotchman Peaks Wilderness might well be nicknamed the “bastion of the goats” for the mountain goats that find wild refuge in its craggy peaks. The larger portion of this rugged area lies in Montana, but support for congressional wilderness protection comes from nearby communities in both states, including Noxon, Montana, and Hope and Clark Fork, Idaho. As one elected official writes, “I have spent many days hunting, fishing and camping in hundreds of places throughout this wilderness.” Thinking back to his first visit in 1964, he added: “Each time I enter the Scotchmans, I return to that first visit so many years ago. Time has stood still, I am young again and all is right with the world. The Scotchman Peaks area is truly a ‘fountain of youth’.”
- More info:
- Friends of Scotchman Peaks
© Jen Schmidt
