Montana

We cannot compromise when it comes to preserving wilderness • Daily Montanan

Published

1 year ago

August 26, 2024

We cannot compromise when it comes to preserving wilderness • Daily Montanan

In the 1930s, Bob Marshall (for whom the Montana wilderness is named) started the Wilderness Society.

Marshall declared at the organization’s founding: “We do not want those whose first impulse is to compromise. We want no straddlers, for, in the past, they have surrendered too much good wilderness and primeval areas which should never have been lost.”

Marshall realized long ago that wilderness designation is the gold standard for conservation. If you want to protect an area’s ecological function, wildlife and wildness, there is no better way than formal wilderness designation.

Tragically, most of the so-conservation groups in Montana, including the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The Wilderness Society, and Wild Montana (formerly Montana Wilderness Association), have forgotten Marshall’s admonishment.

Today, these organizations support the Gallatin Forest Partnership, a proposal to reduce wilderness protection acreage in the Gallatin Range south of Bozeman.

Congress gave the Gallatin Range interim wilderness status in 1977 as part of Senate Bill 393. The legislation designated the 155,000-acre Hyalite-Buffalohorn-Porcupine Wilderness Study Area.

The Act requires that “the wilderness study areas designated by this Act shall, until Congress determines otherwise, be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture so as to maintain their presently existing wilderness character and potential for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System.”

The word “shall” means the Forest Service has no choice but to protect the wilderness quality of the WSA. Unfortunately, the Forest Service has neglected its obligation to maintain wilderness character with the express support of the above organizations.

Approximately 155,000 acres of the Gallatin Range are within S. 393, while the Gallatin Partnership proposal only proposes 104,000 acres for wilderness designation.

Worst for wildlife and wildlands, the Partnership proposes changing WSA status for two of the Gallatin Range’s most important wildlife areas—the Buffalo Horn and Porcupine drainages to permit mechanical access by dirt bikes and mountain bikes permanently,

The Gallatin Range deserves full wilderness protection for the 155,000 acres of the S. 393 WSA and up to 100,000 acres of additional roadless lands for a 255,000-acre wilderness.

We cannot create wilderness. We can only lose it. We must acknowledge Marshall’s admonishment and keep the (fence) straddlers from compromising away one of the best wildlands in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

George Wuerthner has published three books on Yellowstone and the surrounding area. He formerly was on the board of the Montana Wilderness Association (Wild Montana) and worked for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and was a frequent contributor to Wilderness Magazine once published by the Wilderness Society.

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Montana

Photos: Montana State clips Illinois State to win national championship

Published

12 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

Photos: Montana State clips Illinois State to win national championship

Montana State plays Illinois State in the FCS national championship game at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.Justin Hosa / MTN Sports

Montana State topped Illinois State 35-34 in overtime to claim their first National Championship since 1984.TOM WYLIE/MTN Sports

Montana State plays Illinois State in the FCS national championship game at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.Kyle Hansen / MTN Sports

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Montana

Watch: Bobcat Built – Montana State’s Championship Quest

Published

24 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Watch: Bobcat Built – Montana State’s Championship Quest

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Montana State squares off with Illinois State Monday night in the FCS national championship game at FirstBank Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

The Bobcats are making their third trip to the title game in the past five seasons under coach Brent Vigen. The program is seeking its first championship since 1984.

MTN Sports has been on the ground in Nashville for the past five days covering the lead-up to the game, including the pregame show “Bobcat Built: Montana State’s Championship Quest” hosted by Scott Breen and Kyle Hansen.

In it the MTN staff provides game previews, features, facts and figures and sights and sounds from the past several days in Music City in the run-up to the game. To watch, see the video reel below.

Watch: Bobcat Built – Montana State’s Championship Quest

Bobcat Built: Montana State’s Championship Quest

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Montana

Photos: Past and present Montana State Bobcats meet in Nashville

Published

1 day ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Photos: Past and present Montana State Bobcats meet in Nashville

Past Montana State football players meet with current Bobcats during a team walk-through at the indoor practice facility at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026.Kyle Hansen / MTN Sports