For Immediate Release: January 12, 2021
New Wilderness Alliance Announces Draft Legislation for Northern Yellowstone Ecosystem
Bozeman, Montana: The Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Alliance today announced their proposal for new Wilderness designations on the Custer Gallatin National Forest (CGNF) in Southern Montana.
GYWA plans to introduce a Wilderness Bill to the US Congress, titled the Gallatin-Yellowstone Wilderness Act. The Bill would designate about 800,000 acres of new Wilderness in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and nearby federal lands. GYWA has identified Montana’s CGNF as the epicenter of some of the most spectacular unprotected wild lands in the nation.
Phil Knight of GYWA offered “It’s a new year, after a very tough 2020, and we all need positive ideas. How about a fresh start by protecting more Wilderness? What could be better for the people, the wildlife and the land?”
George Wuerthner, author, ecologist and GYWA board member, said “The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is part of the global heritage, and we have a responsibility to do everything we can to preserve it.”
“We are talking about protecting some of the top one or two per cent of wild country in the lower 48” said Knight. These wild lands are some of the best wildlife habitat in the country, providing a home for Grizzly Bear, Lynx, Wolf, Elk, Moose, Mountain Goat, Wolverine and Bighorn Sheep, and are the source of waters that support genetically pure Yellowstone and West Slope Cutthroat Trout.
Anne Millbrooke, GYWA board member, explained “Big open spaces are not actually open and certainly not wasted. Nature fills that space and uses it. As byproducts, nature protects our clean air and clean water. It even stores carbon.”
The CGNF caps Yellowstone National Park like a crown of wild mountains. From Cowboy Heaven to the Tongue River Breaks, the Crazy Mountains to the Line Creek Plateau, the Gallatin Crest to Lionhead, the Beartooth Front to the Pryor Mountains, there is no other national forest like it. GYWA believes that what the CGNF does best is provide for high-quality wild lands. It is not the nation's wood box, nor should it be the nation’s outdoor gymnasium.
Wild lands protection is critical to the quality of life of the region’s communities, and essential to the outdoor economy that draws visitors, as well as contributing to the wellbeing of residents, providing clean water, important fish habitat, critical wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, and solace for people in troubled times.
According to Conservation Biology principles, larger protected areas are better than smaller patches of habitat. So it is important to conserve larger unprotected wild lands, especially if they are contiguous to existing protected areas such as Yellowstone Park.
In addition, some wild lands are critical corridors for the movement of wildlife between other protected landscapes. For example, the Bridger Mountain Range can serve as a corridor connecting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to other wild lands further north.
Yellowstone Wilderness Now!
A short film by GYWA
For Immediate Release: January 12, 2021
New Wilderness Alliance Announces Draft Legislation for Northern Yellowstone Ecosystem
Bozeman, Montana: The Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Alliance today announced their proposal for new Wilderness designations on the Custer Gallatin National Forest (CGNF) in Southern Montana.
GYWA plans to introduce a Wilderness Bill to the US Congress, titled the Gallatin-Yellowstone Wilderness Act. The Bill would designate about 800,000 acres of new Wilderness in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and nearby federal lands. GYWA has identified Montana’s CGNF as the epicenter of some of the most spectacular unprotected wild lands in the nation.
Phil Knight of GYWA offered “It’s a new year, after a very tough 2020, and we all need positive ideas. How about a fresh start by protecting more Wilderness? What could be better for the people, the wildlife and the land?”
George Wuerthner, author, ecologist and GYWA board member, said “The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is part of the global heritage, and we have a responsibility to do everything we can to preserve it.”
“We are talking about protecting some of the top one or two per cent of wild country in the lower 48” said Knight. These wild lands are some of the best wildlife habitat in the country, providing a home for Grizzly Bear, Lynx, Wolf, Elk, Moose, Mountain Goat, Wolverine and Bighorn Sheep, and are the source of waters that support genetically pure Yellowstone and West Slope Cutthroat Trout.
Anne Millbrooke, GYWA board member, explained “Big open spaces are not actually open and certainly not wasted. Nature fills that space and uses it. As byproducts, nature protects our clean air and clean water. It even stores carbon.”
The CGNF caps Yellowstone National Park like a crown of wild mountains. From Cowboy Heaven to the Tongue River Breaks, the Crazy Mountains to the Line Creek Plateau, the Gallatin Crest to Lionhead, the Beartooth Front to the Pryor Mountains, there is no other national forest like it. GYWA believes that what the CGNF does best is provide for high-quality wild lands. It is not the nation's wood box, nor should it be the nation’s outdoor gymnasium.
Wild lands protection is critical to the quality of life of the region’s communities, and essential to the outdoor economy that draws visitors, as well as contributing to the wellbeing of residents, providing clean water, important fish habitat, critical wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, and solace for people in troubled times.
According to Conservation Biology principles, larger protected areas are better than smaller patches of habitat. So it is important to conserve larger unprotected wild lands, especially if they are contiguous to existing protected areas such as Yellowstone Park.
In addition, some wild lands are critical corridors for the movement of wildlife between other protected landscapes. For example, the Bridger Mountain Range can serve as a corridor connecting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to other wild lands further north.
About Us...
The Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Alliance (GYWA) is a non-profit grassroots wilderness organization based in Bozeman, Montana. We formed in early 2019, at a time when our very planet and humanity itself are terribly imperiled, and too many conservation groups keep carving up the landscape, and calling it a victory. We aim to rally public support around the proposal to protect the remaining 800,000 acres of roadless lands on the Custer Gallatin National Forest north of Yellowstone National Park as Wilderness. These vital wildlands contain world-class wildlife habitat and critical landscape linking the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to other large ecosystems to the north, creating connectivity crucial to the preservation of both the region's and the Earth's threatened biodiversity. Because these dangers have been kept from public awareness, we aim to respectfully open up a needed, hard conversation.
Recent Articles & Publications
Febrarury 15th - Phil Knight, Thrillcraft are Taking Over Wild Places, More Wilderness will Help, Counterpunch
February 12th - George Wuerthner, Ambler Road A Threat to Alaska’s Wildlands, National Park Traveler
January 30th - George Wuerthner, Putting Our Public Forests Into Carbon Reserves, The Wildlife News
January 26th - Todd Wilkinson, Greater Yellowstone Climate Guru: 'I Worry About Our Wild Ecosystems', Mountain Journal
January 25th - Howie Wolke, Thirty by Thirty and Half Earth: Promises and Pitfalls, Wilderness Watch Blog
January 18th - George Wuerthner, Protect the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Wildlands, The Wildlife News
January 14th - Olivia Rosane, Wolverine Caught on Yellowstone Trail Cam for First Time, Ecowatch
January 11th - Phil Knight, Wilderness Alliance Rings in New Year with Wilderness Proposal, Bozeman Magazine
December 18th- Jim Bailey, Tribal Bison are No Substitute for the Public Trust, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
December 16th- George Wuerthner, Wolverine ESA Listing Effort Demonstrates Political Influence, The Wildlife News
December 14th- Phil Knight, Have the Machines Already Taken Over?, Counterpunch
December 9th- Laura Lundquist, Gianforte’s Natural Resource Advisor is Former D.C. Pipeline Lobbyist, Missoula Current
November 28th- George Wuerthner, East Paradise Grazing Plan Seeks to Expand Livestock Production, The Wildlife News
December 7th- Shane Doyle, A Crow Suggests How The Crazies Should Remain Wild And Sacred, Mountain Journal
November 26th- Mike Bader, The Last, Best Chance to Save the Northern Rockies, Counterpunch
November 24th- George Wuerthner, NREPA Could Help Achieve 30 by 30 Goal, Independent Record
November 23rd- Alex Sakariassen, Public Lands: Promises and Peril, Montana Free Press
November 18th- Lee Davidson, Trump Administration Backs Two Bills Affecting Trails in Wilderness, Salt Lake Tribune
November 13th- George Wuerthner, How Livestock Impact Ecosystems, The Wildlife News
November 12th- Ryan Stuart, Study: Mountain Bikes Disturb Wildlife on Par With ATVs, Bike Mag
November 12th- George Wuerthner, Protecting the Northern Yellowstone Ecosystem, The Wildlife News
November 3rd- Joseph Scalia III, It’s Not too Late to Protect the Wild Gallatins, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
November 3rd- George Wuerthner, Historical Lessons of Successful Conservation Movements, Counterpunch
November 3rd- Phil Knight, Yellowstone: Paradise Lost?, Counterpunch
Watch Our Promotional Video
Save the Wild Gallatins! - Wilderness Podcast
Grizzly Bears and Mountain Bikes Don't Play Nice...
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Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Alliance
P.O. Box 5256
Bozeman, Montana 59717
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