It is time to protect the unprotected Gallatin Range

Emigrant Peak Trail in the Custer-Gallatin National Forest (Photo by Jacob W. Frank of the National Park Service).

Whether visiting the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, or the many other geologic wonders of the world, the evidence highlighting the passage of time lies before us. It should humble us, knowing our lives are just a speck of dust in the space-time continuum. In other words, we are not long for this earth. For those attuned to the Bible, we can reference the scriptures from Ecclesiastes, where it states there is a time for every purpose under heaven, meaning, there is a right time and place for events to occur.

Either way, there is much truth in those biblical scriptures, just as there is truth in those exposed geologic rocks a lay person views along a road cut along a mountain highway. There is a time for every purpose under heaven. That theme was used as a protest song for peace in the ’60s, perhaps now it’s time to use that protest song to save our planet in the 21 st century. It is time to preserve life on earth as we know it, and the life-giving resources that sustain it. Now is the time to protect what is left of the lands and wildlife of the northern regions of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

For 50 years or more, conservation minded organizations and individuals tried to protect much of the Gallatin Range, the largest unprotected wildlands in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Yet, to no avail. With the world undergoing its six th mass extinction, climate change and loss of biodiversity, now is the time, like no other, to focus our attention not only on the quality of life, but on life itself. Many friends of this movement have fought that good fight over time, but sadly they passed away before that promise was fulfilled. The biblical scriptures of Ecclesiastes rang true for them, but their struggle still endures. With some old activists keeping that memory alive, it is time for a younger generation to take up the cause.

It’s even more frustrating to see those who joined the cause some 50 years ago or more, those who promoted wilderness at that time, to walk away from their own proposal today. Today, we seem to live in a time where it’s more acceptable to placate others in society only to compromise their conservation principles at the door. But for what purpose, to join in the spoils of the collaborative system? With so many species on the verge of extinction, with the climate getting so hot that life cannot sustain itself, and with the continued loss of biodiversity within the GYE, that time also has come and gone.

Pretending our national forests can be managed using the same practices of the last century is arrogant, ignorant and selfish.

In 1977, Congress passed S393, a compromise bill setting aside 155,000 acres of wilderness characteristics as a wilderness study area within the Gallatin Range. Even though lands were not provided with permanent wilderness designation, the legislation was visionary, just waiting for future stewards to make that dream become reality, but it never happened. Now the U.S. Forest Service wants to reduce those quasi-protected lands by another half while the Gallatin Forest Partnership is advocating for 102,000 acres. Both efforts are a far cry from the original compromise and fall short of what is possible; a total of 230,000 acres of roadless land in the Gallatins that should be designated as “wilderness.”

Who gets hurt in this process? Every native species longing to survive within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Increased growth in Gallatin County is taking a toll on our native wildlife. From September 2020 to July of 2021, the Gallatin Wildlife Association placed a wildlife camera near the 8,600-foot elevation mark in the vicinity of the Windy Pass of the Gallatin Crest. The result? GWA had our suspicions confirmed. Very few species of wildlife actually use that high-elevation habitat year-round.

Wildlife need room to roam, room that encompasses a full range of low, mid, and high-altitude habitat, habitat protected with a wilderness designation. For without that, we will forever be in a vicious downward spiral to preserve wildlife. Our purpose is to prevent that from happening.

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