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Southwest Montana residents share public comments on Roadless Rule repeal | Explore Big Sky

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Southwest Montana residents share public comments on Roadless Rule repeal | Explore Big Sky


Without federally planned public meetings about planned repeal of the 2001 policy, organizations host events in Bozeman and across the state

By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER 

As more residents arrived to a Gallatin County Fairgrounds building on March 12, organizers unfolded and added chairs to rows of people ready to listen or offer public comment about the planned repeal of the 2001 Roadless Rule. The meeting was led by a group of organizations creating public input opportunities about the rescission of the conservation policy, and Bozeman was the second to last meeting location in a series of seven across the state. 

In June 2025, the U.S. The Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced intentions to repeal the Roadless Rule. Adopted under the Clinton Administration, the law banned construction, re-construction and timber harvesting on more than 58 million acres of public land. In Montana, six million acres are protected as roadless. 

Hilary Eisen, the federal policy director at Wild Montana, explained that a group of public land advocates collected over 4,000 signatures and petitioned the chief of the U.S. Forest Service to hold public meetings regarding the Roadless Rule repeal, but the USFS did not respond. Thirteen organizations decided to group together and plan public meetings themselves instead. 

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“It needs to happen, like there needs to be community conversations about this very impactful change,” Eisen told Explore Big Sky. “So we’re hoping that maybe by demonstrating to the Forest Service how this works, that they will change their mind and they’ll hold meetings, but at the very least we are hoping that we can at least provide that opportunity.”

The event, centering on the Custer-Gallatin National Forest, began with a short panel with Ryan Callahan, CEO and president of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Lisa Stoeffler, former Bozeman Ranger District leader with decades of forest management experience, and Vasu Sojitra, a professional mountain athlete, filmmaker and adaptive sports advocate. 

Stoeffler described how protection has become more important since the Roadless Rule’s implementation, including threats of wildfire, water scarcity and climate change. 

“There’s simply no good reason to upend the good work done at a local level with no rationale for doing so,” Stoeffler said. While the USFS has stated that roads promote access to fighting wildfires, research as reported by Robert Chaney in Mountain Journal, has shown that fire starts happen more frequently when in proximity to a road. In the meeting, Stoeffler shared that there are ways to improve the roadless rule, but warned against broad changes in lieu of carefully weighing site-specific solutions. 

Sojitra also shared his perspective as an outdoors advocate with a disability.
“One of the biggest things for folks with disabilities is that we don’t need more roads to get places,” Sojitra said. “ We just need more programming to get to places.”

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Sojitra also explained that through adaptive programming, he was able to fall in love with the outdoors, like many in the room, and that protecting the environment and wilderness is vital to health.

Public comment began later, and residents lined up one after the other to share what the Roadless Rule means to them, whether or not they support it, and why. Bozeman resident Karissa Wedman shared her experience working in conservation and wildland firefighting. She described her appreciation for protected public lands and noted that as a 25-year-old, the Roadless Rule has been in place her entire life. 

“I would like to say something for people my age and younger,” Wedman said. “It’s that we don’t wanna lose this. We love this, and it’s scary to think of the rest of our lives without it.”

Another Bozeman resident, Scott Bischke, described his connection with outdoor spaces in Montana. 

“ We looked at the map today—just of all the road areas in Montana—and [I’m] confident to say that we have either recreated in each one of them or at the minimum been adjacent to them, fishing, hunting, enjoying the outdoors, all the different things that we do,” he said. 

He then directed his comments about the current administration and urged leadership to use the Roadless Rule to protect further lands “for the critters that live there and for future Americans to explore.” 

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Other commenters included a Gallatin Gateway resident speaking to protect forests for future generations, including his 8-year-old granddaughter, and an Ennis resident and board member of the Montana Logging Association, who argued that the Roadless Rule needs deep reform. 

The USFS is expected to release its proposed rule and draft environmental impact statement in late March or early April. When it’s released, Wild Montana will compile all of the comments collected in meetings, both verbal and written, and send the comments to the USFS. There will be hundreds, as attendance at meetings across the state was robust, Wild Montana Organizing Director Kascie Herron said. 

“I’ve been blown away personally by the amount of community response that we’ve seen in each of these towns [where] we’ve held these meetings,” Herron said. She described comments from people on both sides of the argument, and noted that it was important to host meetings that promoted the democratic process typically seen in major land management decisions. 

Helena was the final meeting location after Bozeman, and the coalition will now focus on communicating with attendees and preparing for the public comment stage.

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Montana Lottery Mega Millions, Big Sky Bonus results for March 17, 2026

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The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at March 17, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from March 17 drawing

04-11-18-38-50, Mega Ball: 24

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

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Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from March 17 drawing

08-11-13-23, Bonus: 16

Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 17 drawing

03-04-09-48-55, Bonus: 02

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

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When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
  • Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.

Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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Montana Secretary of State says feds confirmed 23 non-citizen voter records • Daily Montanan

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Montana Secretary of State says feds confirmed 23 non-citizen voter records • Daily Montanan


Twenty-three voter records in Montana have been confirmed as potential instances of non-citizens registering to vote and casting ballots in the state, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

In a Tuesday press release, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen said her office had utilized the SAVE tool — an online service administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within the Department of Homeland Security — which allows government agencies to verify immigration status and U.S. citizenship of individuals registered to vote, the first time Montana election officials have been able to verify citizenship of voters.

The SAVE tool had flagged 23 state voter records earlier this year, which USCIS confirmed as belonging to individuals “appear in non-citizen status,” according to Jacobsen.

“For the first time in state history, election officials are able to verify citizenship of Montana’s voter rolls, and at no cost,”Jacobsen said. “The federal government’s SAVE tool is producing results.”

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Jacobsen said in the news release a review of the 23 flagged voter records indicated “nearly 150 ballots were cast in Montana elections,” and that several voters had participated in signature-gathering processes for petitions.

A spokesperson for Jacobsen’s office did not return questions from the Daily Montanan asking over what years the 150 ballots were cast in, what counties they were registered to vote in, or what the next steps of contacting individuals or bringing charges would look like.

Jacobsen had previously touted the SAVE Tool as a partnership between Montana and the Trump administration in a series of postcards sent out by her office that have raised complaints with the Commission of Political Practices over the use of tax dollars, since dismissed, and numerous questions from lawmakers.

The press release also announced that a non-citizen had come forward and requested cancellation of their voter registration, which Jacobsen said occurred after the office “provided public outreach to Montanans … announcing that election officials would begin verifying the citizenship of the state’s voter registration list.”

“Montana has made it clear: Only citizens should be allowed to register and vote, and non-citizen voting will not be tolerated,” Jacobsen said. “Anyone illegally on Montana’s voter rolls should follow this individual’s example – come forward and cancel your illegal voter registration.”

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Under Montana law, to be eligible to vote, people need to be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old before the election, and a Montana resident for at least 30 days before the next election.

State, federal focus on citizen voting

While Montana has been scrutinizing its voter roles, there has been a standoff between many states and the federal government, which has requested information related to voting records be turned over to the Trump administration.

Montana is one of the state’s that has denied providing confidential information, such as Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers, but has provided public voter records.

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Nationally, the issue of non-citizen voting has swept the halls of Congress, and the U.S. Senate on Tuesday has taken up a contentious voter ID bill, known as the SAVE America Act, which passed the House on nearly party lines last month.

The SAVE America Act is an elections bill aimed at restricting voter registration by requiring voters prove citizenship with documents such as a passport or birth certificate. GOP proponents of the bill say it will provide safeguards to ensure only U.S. citizens vote, while opponents, mostly Democrats, say that it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote, and that the stringent requirements will disenfranchise million of Americans who do not have passports or access to other allowable documents.

In a press call on Tuesday opposing the federal SAVE America Act, former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, pointed out that while voter fraud is extremely rare in the country and almost no one can point to real-world examples of problems, he actually knows about one of the few cases where it might have impacted an election — right here in Montana.

In 2021, two Filipino women on work visas were teaching in Dodson, Montana, a town with a population that hovers just over 100 residents. The two women voted in the 2021 mayoral race, which was won by only two votes.

Charges were brought against the two women, who pleaded not guilty.

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But political scientists at the time said the instance was “a unicorn,” representing one of the rare documented cases where an election with just 40 voters could possible be effected by instances of voter fraud.

On the call, Schweitzer said he had made it easy for Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat who is a leading opponent of the SAVE America Act, to convince her fellow lawmakers to concern themselves with “Oh, I don’t know, some other things that actually affect America.”

“Like the 60,000 women that were assaulted sexually last year, or the 10,000 students that were assaulted by people that worked at their schools,” Schweitzer said. “Or, let’s get closer to home, the 3000 cattle that were rustled across this country, or the 35,000 horses that were stolen, or the 2 million bicycles that were stolen last year. These are the sorts of things that affect the lives of people in America.”

Schweitzer said the Dodson incident, rather than prove how prominent fraud is, showcases its rarity and that states are already equipped to handle issues.

“There’s a few things I’m thinking that you and your colleagues could be working on, as opposed to the one where .00001% of potential people from another country voted in our elections, but we can’t find an outcome that it’s been affected except for Dodson, Montana,” Schweitzer said.

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The 23 voter records Jacobsen’s office flagged represent a fraction of a percent of registered voters in the state, as of 2025 records with the Secretary of State’s office. The possible non-citizen voter records comprise 0.0029% out of nearly 800,000 registered voters.

But Jacobsen’s press release emphasized that in Montana, small local elections can result in close races, including a “recent city council ward race resulted in a tie.”

“One illegal vote disenfranchises the voices of eligible Montanans and can cause irreparable harm to our elections,” Jacobsen said.



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Montana’s wild week in politics could have national consequences

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Montana’s wild week in politics could have national consequences


What was shaping up to be a sleepy election year in Montana is now anything but. It was a head-spinning week in Montana politics: Two incumbent congressmen declared they weren’t running for re-election — and another got into a scuffle on Capitol Hill. In a tight election year, the shakeup could have national consequences.



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