FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 23, 2022

MCV rejects: ‘one of the biggest public lands giveaways in Montana history’

Conservation group pushes back against Senator Daines’ new bill which robs protections from over 100,000 acres of Montana’s public lands

(HELENA, Mont.) – The Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund released the following statement from Executive Director Whitney Tawney in response to U.S. Senator Steve Daines’ release of the Montana Backcountry Conservation Act of 2022:

“No amount of lip service can cover up what Senator Daines’ WSA bill actually is – one of the biggest public lands giveaways in Montana history. Without a single public meeting, Senator Daines is hoping to force a top-down, anti-conservation bill that Montanans didn’t ask for nor support. This bill will harm Montana’s wildlife, threaten our clean water and negatively impact outdoor recreation. Montanans will see through this bill like they saw through his first attempt to give away our public lands in 2017.”

The Junior Senator’s legislation removes protections from over 100,000 acres in three Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) in Western Montana: Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area, Hoodoo Mountain Wilderness Study Area and Wales Creek Wilderness Study Area. Congress first introduced WSAs in the 1960s and Montana is home to 44 areas, comprising over one million acres of protected public lands.

The Montana Backcountry Conservation Act of 2022 replicates many of the same themes from the Senator’s 2017 Protect Public Use of Public Lands Act, which would have removed protections for hundreds of thousands of acres of WSAs across Montana. The 2017 bill was met with fierce opposition in Montana and died in Committee that session.

A recent poll released by the University of Montana in May of 2022 found that 72% of Montanans across the state and the political spectrum are in favor of maintaining or increasing protections for WSAs.