FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2025

Conservation group condemns Daines bill targeting Montana wilderness study areas

The Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund warns legislation would strip safeguards from over 100,000 acres despite clear public and bipartisan opposition

(HELENA, Mont.) — The Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund today condemned legislation reintroduced by Sen. Steve Daines that would remove long-standing protections from the Middle Fork Judith, Hoodoo Mountain, and Wales Creek Wilderness Study Areas, threatening more than 100,000 acres of Montana public lands.

The Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act revives a proposal Daines originally introduced in 2022. The bill comes despite years of clear opposition from Montanans and Montana lawmakers to sweeping efforts to eliminate wilderness study area protections. Just this year, the Montana Senate Energy, Technology, and Federal Relations Committee voted 9–4, with bipartisan opposition, to block a similar proposal after several conservation groups and thousands of Montanans spoke out in opposition.

“Sen. Daines knows this approach has been rejected — by Montanans, by conservation groups, and by lawmakers from both parties — and he chose to bring it back anyway,” said Ben Super, Executive Director of the Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund. “That’s not leadership. It’s a deliberate decision to override local voices and weaken safeguards for irreplaceable public lands without public support or a credible alternative.”

Daines’ decision to reintroduce the bill follows a broader pattern of positions that have raised alarms among public lands advocates, including his failure to defend the Land and Water Conservation Fund and his support for public-lands-selloff proponents such as Bureau of Land Management nominee Steve Pearce.

“Montanans value certainty, stewardship, and local input when it comes to public lands,” Super added. “This bill delivers none of that — and it puts some of Montana’s most wild and cherished places squarely in harm’s way, undermining the backcountry protections that sustain wildlife habitat, clean water, and responsible recreation across the region.”