On Dec. 7, Daines issued a press release describing legislation he had introduced, the Protect Public Use of Public Lands Act, that proposes release of 449,500 acres of wilderness study areas in ...

Montana's 10 original wilderness study areas totaled 973,000 acres. They were created by Congress in 1977 with the intention that within five years a recommendation would be made on whether or not ...

Daines stressed that his bill, which would have removed Forest Service wilderness study designation from approximately 450,000 acres of land — including the West Pioneer, Blue Joint, Sapphire ...

There are proposals in Congress that would eliminate protections for 29 wilderness study areas in Montana. That would potentially expand motorized recreation, oil and gas drilling, or industrial ...

Southwest Montana would lose 245,000 acres of Wilderness Study Areas in U.S. Forest Service land, according to Gabriel Furshong, deputy executive director of the Montana Wilderness Association.

In 1977, Senator Lee Metcalf sponsored the Montana Wilderness Study Act legislation (S.393), which created nine wilderness study areas in Montana, including in the Gallatin Range known as the ...

Another seven wilderness study areas, totaling about 600,000 acres, still await action. The Forest Service met its deadline, but Congress has yet to act.