MOJO article on Gallatin Range and Wilderness
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

Over the last 40-some years I’ve visited dozens of federal Wilderness areas and probably twice as many more landscapes in the American West classified as “wilderness study areas.” I’ve seen them as a hiker, angler, backcountry ranger, firefighter, father, husband, ecologist with a college degree, photographer and student of history.
“Biologically the massif of the Gallatins and its foothills represent one of the more diverse and important areas in the entire ecosystem.”


“Just as WSAs themselves were not safeguarded from illegal trespass and the Forest Service in parts of the West has only enforced the law when compelled to do in court by environmentalists, we have no assurance that “wildlife management areas” (WMAs) will fare any better.”


EDITOR’S NOTE: George Wuerthner shared the following reference points which he says speak to the effects of outdoor recreation on wildlife. We are sharing it verbatim as he wrote it.

George Wuerthner has spent a lifetime doing many things in the wild backcountry of America and advocating for its protection. A prolific writer, gifted photographer, seasonal ranger and conservationist, he is the author of more than 30 books. He was enlisted by the late Doug Tompkins and his wife, Kris, through their Foundation For Deep Ecology, to assemble a series of books on human forces impacting wildlands including livestock grazing, industrial logging, suppression of wildfire, and the growth of motorized “thrillcraft.”

George Wuerthner
George Wuerthner is an ecologist and former hunting guide with a degree in wildlife biology
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Sounds good to me, although I suspect this administration is not interested any more wilderness areas.