This piece was originally published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Our beloved public lands around Southwest Montana are at risk. With the region’s population surging in recent decades – and continuing to grow – development is closing in quickly. Yet all of the Gallatin Range and critical parts of the Madison Range still lack permanent protection.

Now is the time to protect the Madison and Gallatin ranges. Not in five years, not in ten, and definitely not in fifty.

The clock is ticking. The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act is our best chance to secure the future of these wild lands. This legislation is the result of over a decade of hard work, negotiation, and compromise. It’s not just a plan; it’s a consensus forged by conservationists, business owners, mountain bikers, outfitters, hunters, anglers, and community members who understand how to build a thriving future for everyone in a rapidly changing area.

Here’s what this legislation will accomplish:

Wilderness designation
124,000 acres of new Wilderness in the Gallatin (102,000 acres) and Madison (22,000 acres) ranges will be permanently protected. Every acre will remain wild, free from roads, bikes and motors – forever.

Wildlife protection
A total of 31,000 acres at the southern end of the Gallatins, along with 25,000 acres in the northeast corner, will be designated as Wildlife and Recreation Management Areas. This designation is crucial for protecting key migratory corridors and habitats. Long-established recreation activities, including certain motorcycle and snowmobile uses that predate the Wilderness Study Area, will still be permitted, but no new trails or areas will be opened to motorized recreation. Additionally, recreational development, industrial logging, and trail construction (with the exception of two short trail connectors in West Pine) will be prohibited to ensure the land remains a safe haven for the wildlife that depend on it.

Clean water and recreation
70,000 acres in Hyalite Canyon and the Bozeman Creek and South Cottonwood drainages will be preserved as a watershed protection and recreation area. This will ensure clean drinking water and protect some of our most beloved trails.

Total impact
This legislation will permanently protect 250,000 acres across both ranges, safeguarding wildlife habitats, stunning scenery, cold creeks, and recreational access for future generations.

A balanced bill for the future

This legislation is about community solidarity in our era of rapid change – for wilderness, wildlife, and to keep the way of life we cherish for future generations. Now we have an opportunity to act with a balanced and realistic proposal. Inaction or holding out for an unattainable ideal could cost us everything. Though some may wish it were different, the Gallatin Range has never been managed as Wilderness. Now, we can change that with a balanced and realistic proposal.

We can’t afford to wait. The consequences could be permanent.

If we delay, if we retreat into debates about what’s perfect, we risk losing the wildness of the Madison and Gallatin ranges to ever-expanding recreation and a landscape forever changed. Our wild lands are disappearing – a football field every 30 seconds. As climate change accelerates, protecting wild places becomes even more critical for preserving wildlife connectivity, biodiversity, and natural areas that absorb carbon and help species adapt to a hotter, dryer future. Inaction is our biggest threat. We have a responsibility to safeguard this land both for wildlife and for people, today. We need to act now.

Change is inevitable, and that includes how we approach conservation. Today, we’ve adapted our methods and tools to meet the challenges our growing communities and public lands face. The Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act is our best shot at a realistic, common-sense solution to protect these wild places, their habitats, recreational opportunities, and clean water. The time to make it law is now, before we lose the chance forever.

Learn more and join the effort at greateryellowstoneact.org.

—Scott Christensen, Executive Director, Greater Yellowstone Coalition

—Peter Aengst, Senior Regional Director - Northern Rockies, The Wilderness Society

—John Todd, Executive Director, Wild Montana