Wilderness Campaigns

The Montana Wilderness Association works to designate and defend Wilderness as well as preserve potential wilderness land until it, too, can be designated as Wilderness. When Congress designates our pristine natural places as Wilderness, it permanently protects Montana’s special places where our children will always have the right to enjoy Montana’s beautiful backcountry.

Staff, member volunteers and friends of Montana Wilderness Association are involved in identifying potential Wilderness areas, and working with local communities and businesses to find long-term solutions that protect wildlands while nurturing other important aspects of our communities.

For example, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership is a unique coalition of conservation groups, including Montana Wilderness Association and members of the timber industry, who have presented an alternative to the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Plan currently under reviewed. Setting aside decades of disagreements, we have come to the table to craft a made-in-Montana partnership. The three pillars of the Partnership include economic development through increased timber harvesting opportunities, reduced risk of wildfire by increasing forest health, and preserving our backcountry traditions by setting aside areas of Wilderness for future generations. This Partnership, and other Wilderness Campaigns, will bring new long-term protection to Montana wildlands that may otherwise be lost to future generations.

Montana Wilderness Association has been involved in every successful Wilderness Campaign in Montana’s history—and also in a few that did not go so well. We understand that Montanans care deeply about preserving fresh water and air, economic opportunities, beauty, and traditional recreation such as hunting, fishing and hiking. We have three Campaign Directors on the ground throughout the state working on six important campaigns. They, along with the entire staff and membership, contribute leadership, energy and cooperation that will help Montanans gain the protection they feel their lands deserve.

The Beaverhead Deerlodge Partnership focuses on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, located in Southwest Montana, near Dillon. The Sleeping Giant/Gates of the Mountains Campaign combines two Wilderness Study Areas outside Helena; this campaign was instituted in 1991 with tremendous public support.

The Blackfoot Clearwater Landscape Stewardship Project is associated with the Lolo Forest and is a grassroots land-management proposal organized in conjunction with residents within the Blackfoot and Seeley Swan valleys. The Rocky Mountain Front Campaign is centered within the Rocky Mountain Division of the Lewis & Clark Forest. Here, the long-running local culture of conservation guards against the threats of subdivision, industrial development, and motorized abuse of Montana’s beloved Rocky Mountain Front.

To the north, the Scotchman Peaks Campaign strives to protect portions of the 88,000 acre Scotchman Peaks roadless area, which spans the Idaho-Montana border. The Winton Weydemeyer Campaign encompasses four roadless areas adjacent the western edge of Glacier National Park; the areas include: Thompson Seton, Mount Hefty, and Tuchuck roadless areas, and the Ten Lakes Wilderness Study Area.

Each of these campaigns is unique, energized and important to the overall protection of Montana’s wildlands. We hope that you’ll add your energies to one or more of these campaigns—with your help we can Keep it Wild!