Safeguarding the Custer Gallatin National Forest

Just northwest of Yellowstone National Park rise two remarkable mountain ranges home to a host of iconic wildlife, the headwaters of significant river systems, and world-class recreation opportunities. Encompassed in the 3.1-million-acre Custer Gallatin National Forest, these are the Gallatin and Madison ranges.

Crucially, the Gallatin mountains are the last mountain ranges adjacent to Yellowstone National Park without permanent protections. The Gallatin Forest Partnership, of which the Greater Yellowstone Coalition is a founding member, is a group of conservationists, recreationists, community leaders, and businesspeople dedicated to protecting this landscape. The group created the Gallatin Forest Partnership agreement, a community-driven plan to protect 250,000 acres in these mountains long into the future. In 2022, the agreement was largely adopted within the new Custer Gallatin National Forest Management Plan.

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is characterized by vast swaths of intact wildlife habitat and immense recreation opportunity. The Gallatin and Madison ranges of southwest Montana embody the best of both wildlife habitat and recreation. Grizzly bears, elk, wolverines, and other species utilize these ranges as connective corridors as they travel to and from Yellowstone National Park during daily and seasonal movements. Native trout find refuge in the cold, clear streams that originate high in the mountains of the Custer Gallatin National Forest. Simultaneously, these ranges offer a long legacy of opportunities for adventure and solitude for the residents of and visitors to Bozeman and Big Sky, Montana.

From hiking and backcountry skiing to ice climbing, fishing, birdwatching, mountain biking, and snowmobiling, the Gallatin and Madison ranges support a wide variety of interests and ways of connecting with the natural world.  

As more and more people move to the communities surrounding the Madison and Gallatin ranges – often drawn by unmatched access to public lands – the landscape is experiencing unprecedented use. Development in these communities means not only increased recreation, but encroachment on wildlife habitat, the proliferation of trails and roads, and the risk of degraded water quality. The movement to permanently protect the Madison and Gallatin ranges has lasted longer than a decade; many conflicting voices and immovable opinions have trumped attempts at the collaboration required to move the needle toward real progress, creating a stalemate that risks the future of a landscape too important to leave unprotected.

Community collaboratives like the Gallatin Forest Partnership offer creative solutions to protecting ranges like the Madison and Gallatin and make space for consensus when it comes to some of the toughest issues facing the ecosystem.

The Gallatin Forest Partnership, and the agreement created by the group, represents the interests of diverse stakeholders, not just conservationists and recreationists. Solutions created and supported by diverse voices are more durable in the face of growth and the ever-changing political climate. The agreement advocates for the creation of 124,000 of new wilderness and an additional 126,000 acres of additional conservation designations that will work in concert to provide the best possible protections for wildlife, while maintaining the current recreational footprint and ensuring unsustainable expansion of recreation is curtailed.  

The value and success of collaborative efforts and finding common ground is exemplified by the Gallatin Forest Partnership agreement having been largely adopted by the latest Custer Gallatin National Forest Management Plan. Yet the work does not stop there, as permanent protections such as wilderness designations require an act of congress.

As part of the Gallatin Forest Partnership, GYC will continue to prioritize collaboration as we work toward permanent protections for the Madison and Gallatin ranges and the incredible wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities they hold. 

Photos Louise Johns Photography