Maps: Rocky Mountain Front Region

When humans first crossed the Bering Land Bridge and headed south to greener climes, many entered the present-day U.S. along the backbone of the continent that we call the Rocky Mountain Front. Today “The Front,” with its jagged peaks and cliffs, still towers over the western edge of Montana’s prairie with the same grandeur that must have impressed those stone-age hunters. It’s a magnificent gift from the past that deserves to be passed on into the future.

Abutted on the west by 1.5 million acres of designated Wilderness and reaching east to US Highways 89 and 287, the Front stretches 150 miles north and south from Marias Pass to Rogers Pass. The landscape sprawls over 418,000 acres of public lands, including three wildlife management areas, the western half of the Lewis and Clark National Forest, and BLM holdings. Its outstanding roadless areas, supporting what may be the finest wildlife herds in the lower 48, run along the eastern slope of the Continental Divide.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The Westerners who live in the neighborhood of the forest preserves are the people who in the last resort will determine whether or not these preserves are to be permanent.” Two hundred and ninety species of wildlife make a home on the Front today because of the stewardship practiced by hunters, anglers, farmers and ranchers for more than 100 years.

This culture of conservation and a love of the land guard against the threats of subdivision, industrialization, and motorized recreation. The natural and the human history of the Front ask equally for permanent protection. It’s our task to cherish both the wildlife that roams these high plains and ridgelines, and the Montana rancher who works the land in the tradition of forebears.

You can get involved in this region by contacting the Island Range Chapter (Great Falls) or the Wild Divide Chapter (Helena), and joining us on a Wilderness Walk.

The Bob Marshall Wilderness, Great Bear Wilderness, Scapegoat Wilderness, Lewis and Clark National Forest, Lolo National Forest and Helena National Forest can be found in this region. For more information check Wilderness Areas and National Forests.

More information about the Rocky Mountain Front Wilderness Campaign can be found at Campaigns.