About Us: Accomplishments

Montana Wilderness Association’s members have contributed to a long list of wilderness-related successes. They include new Wilderness designations, defense of wilderness study areas and influential comments on Travel and Forest Plans. Highlights of our members’ accomplishments illustrate the breadth of our participation in wilderness issues and the unwavering dedication of our members to work to preserve our wilderness heritage.

Montana Wilderness Association has a reputation for persistence of vision and for getting things done—a direct reflection of the dedication of our members. Here are highlights of Montana Wilderness Association’s accomplishments over the years.

Recent accomplishments

2006: Montana United States District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled in favor of MWA in its lawsuit regarding natural gas leases in a pristine area of what is now the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. The court ruled that the BLM violated several federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, because it failed to analyze the impacts of the gas leases, but instead relied upon outdated, generalized documents without adequate public disclosure. As a result, the leases have not been, and may never be, developed. The BLM also was ordered to pay MWA’s attorneys fees and costs of suit.

2005: MWA worked on a successful Montana State Legislative agenda that included supporting good conservation bills and helping to defeat environmental rollbacks and giveaways. As examples, MWA joined with other conservation organizations to oppose recreation fees on federal lands, require Montana’s utilities to meet alternative energy goals by 2015, and encourage environmental studies of the Flathead River drainage prior to proposed Canadian coal mining development.

2004: MWA members, working in conjunction with many other organizations such as The Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front, successfully presented evidence via public meetings and written comments that oil and gas development in the Blackleaf area along the Rocky Mountain Front would cause permanent damage to the wildlands. Subsequent to the public hearings, the BLM announced it would indefinitely stop work on an environmental impact statement that related to efforts by Startech Energy, a Calgary-based company, to drill in the area.

2003: Successful defense of Wilderness Study Areas, a wildlands legacy left by the late Montana Senator Lee Metcalf (see below), was led by MWA. In January, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of agreed with MWA that the U.S. Forest Service has a legal obligation to maintain the wild character of seven wilderness study areas in Montana. The Lewis & Clark National Forest’s proposed Rocky Mountain Front Travel Plan received a record 7600 comments, over 80% in support of no new motorized travel in the area. MWA members helped generate, tally, analyze and publicize the comments.

2002: Montana Wilderness Association members led the campaign to remove the controversial “Crippen Cabin” from the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Our efforts revealed that state officials worked behind the scenes with U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) to make a stealth attack on the Wilderness Act and the Custer National Forest's management plan. Our members helped stymie a proposal for a recreational airstrip in a wildlife management area, near Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The Montana Pilot’s Association had also proposed new airstrips in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and areas in the Missouri Breaks region.

2001: The Missouri River Breaks National Monument was designated, after decades of work by our members, other conservation groups, and citizens across the state and nation. MWA continues to defend the monument against attempts to weaken its protections or shrink its boundaries. After record public support, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule was established to provide baseline protection for all roadless areas in the country. Our members led campaign efforts in Montana, and continue to successfully defend the policy.

2000: U.S. District Court dismissed a lawsuit by the Blue Ribbon Coalition seeking to open the Great Burn and 300,000 other roadless acres on the Lolo National Forest to off-road vehicle traffic. The decision came after years of work by our members and friends, who defended the Forest Plan’s prohibition of motorized use in these areas—a prohibition that the Forest Service had failed to uphold.

Our long history of accomplishments, starting from the beginning . . .

1958: Montana Wilderness Association is founded by Ken and Florence Baldwin as the nation’s first state organization concerned with wilderness preservation and the proper management of public lands.

1964: MWA’s members actively endorsed the Wilderness Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. With its passage came the designation of some of Montana’s best-known Wilderness areas, such as the Bob Marshall, Cabinet Mountains, Gates of the Mountains, Selway-Bitterroot, and Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness.

1972: The Lincoln-Scapegoat Wilderness area is designated by Congress. Called the “first citizen’s wilderness” in the United States, the Lincoln–Scapegoat was proposed to Congress largely by Montana Wilderness Association activists, marking the first time an area was recommended by anyone other than the U.S. Forest Service. As far back as 1962, our members had recommended protection for the Lincoln backcountry as a “roadless area.” Today the area is an integral part of the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex.

1976: Congress passed the National Forest Management Act, which opened the doors of national forest management to local citizens. Our members actively lobbied for its passage and continue working to preserve the integrity of this important law.

1976 to 1978: Our members secured wilderness designation for the Great Bear, Rattlesnake, Absaroka-Beartooth, Mission Mountains, Welcome Creek, UL Bend, Medicine Lake, and Red Rock Lakes areas, as well as Wild and Scenic designations for the Flathead and Missouri Rivers.

1977: Congress passed Senator Lee Metcalf’s “Montana Wilderness Study Act,” which set aside nine roadless areas as “Wilderness Study Areas,” to be preserved in their 1977 state until designated as wilderness by Congress.

1978: The Forest Service announces its recommendation to protect less than ten percent of Montana’s roadless areas as Wilderness. Our members responded quickly with a citizen’s alternative, known as Alternative W, which was endorsed by dozens of organizations in Montana.

1980: Our members took a lead in challenging the Bureau of Land Management wilderness reviews for Montana, particularly for restoring the wilderness consideration for deserving wildlands along the Missouri River Breaks and in southwest Montana.

1981: The “Bomb the Bob” attack by oil and gas development threatened the nation’s premier Wilderness. Our members launched a massive counter-attack, pulling together with state and national conservation groups to stave off seismic exploration in the Bob Marshall complex.

1982 to 1987: Montana Wilderness Association representatives are involved in the first-in-the-nation pilot project to develop wilderness management plans for the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

1983: The Lee Metcalf Wilderness is designated, giving protection to key portions of the wild Yellowstone ecosystem. The area was one of the nine Wilderness Study Areas designated in 1977.

1984: The “Montana Wilderness Axe” is introduced in Congress, and our members take the lead to successfully bury this bill. Its proposal was to protect only 750,000 of the potential 6 million acres of Montana National Forest wildlands.

1986: Senator John Melcher introduces S-2790, a bill to designate 1.1 million acres of national forest Wilderness while releasing the rest. We provided a detailed response, with a clear explanation of what remains to be done to produce a bill worthy of Montana’s heritage and future.

1987: Congressman Pat Williams introduces HR 2090, which is later strengthened by amendment to conserve 1.4 million acres of wilderness, leaving some wilds in study status and releasing the remainder to the forest plans. Senator Max Baucus also introduces legislation, S1478, to designate 1.4 million acres of wilderness and create new study areas for the Badger-Two Medicine and Smith River Canyon areas.

1988: A wilderness bill passes Congress but is pocket-vetoed by President Reagan as an election favor to Senator Conrad Burns. This was the last Montana Wilderness bill to pass Congress.

Early 1990s: Our members negotiated with state labor interests to develop the landmark Lolo-Kootenai Accords for protection of wildlands in northwest Montana. However, a bill to implement the Accords was blocked by Congress.

1994: Our members led efforts for another Wilderness bill, introduced by Rep. Pat Williams and passed in the House. The bill, however, was not supported by either Senator and it was not considered by the Senate.

1997: Montana Wilderness Association cultivated strong public support for the Rocky Mountain Front, which contributed to Forest Supervisor Gloria Flora’s historic 15-year moratorium on new oil and gas leases on the Front.