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"Wilderness/Roadless"
Dead. Most of us have negative associations with the word. After all how did Death Valley get its name? Not because it was a favorite vacation spot for prospectors. Is anyone interested in fishing the Dead Sea? And when we say someone looks like “death warmed over” it’s not usually taken as a compliment. […]
Continue Reading →Recently the Helena National Forest released a scoping letter on a proposal to create 39 miles of mountain biking (aka thrill biker) trails in the Strawberry Butte area of the northern Elkhorn Wildlife Management Area. https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/110309_FSPLT3_4486872.pdf
In its scoping letter, the FS notes that “Since 2001, the Forest has observed an increase in recreational use […]
Continue Reading →In recent years it has become fashionable for conservationists to substitute and promote other land classification in place of wilderness designation. Wilderness is “passé” so we are told, even though it is the “gold standard” for land protection.
In a recent white paper, The Wilderness Society outlined some of these alternatives such as National Recreation […]
Continue Reading →The spectacularly glaciated Gallatin Range stretches south from Bozeman into Yellowstone National Park. The 250,000-acre roadless area is the largest unprotected wildlands left in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
WILDLIFE VALUES
The Buffalohorn and Porcupine drainages (BHP) that drain into the Gallatin River near Big Sky, Montana are a miniature ecological equivalent of the Lamar […]
Continue Reading →Billings, Montana has seen a steady increase in population and economic diversity. In all likelihood, Billings will continue to grow. At a modest average growth of 1.5 percent a year, Billing’s population will increase by more than 40,000 people in 20 years.
At the same time, Billing’s economy has greatly diversified. […]
Continue Reading →“The grazing of livestock, where established prior to the effective
date of this Act, shall be permitted to continue subject to such
reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary by the Secretary of
Agriculture.”
The Wilderness Act of 1964, Section 4(d)(4)(2)
Livestock grazing occurs on some […]
Continue Reading →Wilderness and wildlife define the character of Montana. If you were to ask people what comes to mind when you mention Montana, they are likely to say Glacier, Yellowstone, Bob Marshall Wilderness, Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness, charismatic wildlife like grizzlies and wolves, and trout streams like the Upper Yellowstone or Madison Rivers.
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Wilderness and wildlife define the character of Montana. If you were to ask people what comes to mind when you mention Montana, they are likely to say Glacier, Yellowstone, Bob Marshall Wilderness, Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness, charismatic wildlife like grizzlies and wolves, and trout streams like the Upper Yellowstone or Madison Rivers.
It is beyond comprehension […]
Continue Reading →http://mountainjournal.org/gallatin-mountains-in-montana-deserve-wilderness-protection
Gallatin Range Deserves Wilderness Protection: An Ecologist’s Op Ed GEORGE WUERTHNER SAYS ONE OF GREATER YELLOWSTONE’S MOST IMPORTANT WILDLIFE AREAS IS UNPROTECTED by George Wuerthner A view of the Madison Range, distant, from Ramshorn Peak in the wild Gallatin Range. Photo courtesy George Wuerthner
Over the last 40-some years I’ve visited dozens of federal […]
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Buffalo Horn drainage
The Gallatin Range that lies south of Bozeman, Montana is the largest unprotected wildlands in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). The Gallatin Range is highly scenic with glaciated cirques, grassy meadows, and subalpine lakes.
Biologically it is one of the more diverse […]
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