Daines Urges Colleagues To Support His Bill Improving Outdoor Recreation, Access to Montana Public Lands

• February 12, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Jon Raby, the Nevada State Director for the Bureau of Land Management, and Christopher French, Associate Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. They discussed his "Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act" to resolve Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in Montana, improving access for recreation, wildlife management, and grazing.

Watch the full exchange HERE.

Daines' opening remarks:

Thank you, Chairman Barrasso and Ranking Member Cortez Masto, for holding this hearing. Included in today's agenda is one of my bills, the Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act. As a fifth generation Montanan and an avid outdoorsman, I know how important public lands are to Montanans. Local input and the best available science guide land management plan revisions, but unfortunately Congressional inaction has left many areas in Montana in limbo. The original intent of Wilderness Study Areas was for land management agencies to study and make recommendations to Congress whether they an area should be made wilderness or released to regular management. Congress then must act on those recommendations. Montanans are tired of going through the process of studying and providing input on these areas and then not seeing any action or resolution. The consequence of this inaction is unacceptable and I'm determined to fix it. Following a multi-year collaborative process with strong public comment spanning multiple administrations, the three areas in my bill covering just over 100,000 acres have been deemed unsuitable for permanent wilderness: These are the Hoodoo Mountain, Wales Creek, and the Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Areas. This bill is supported by both Powell and Judith Basin County Commissions, as well as multiple outdoor recreation, timber, and agricultural groups. I ask unanimous consent to add the 8 letters of support I have received into the record. I'd also like to note that if this bill were to be enacted, the lands included in it, as well as the Forest System as a whole, will continue to enjoy statutory protection from:

• NEPA
  • The Endangered Species Act
  • The Clean Water Act
  • Clean Air Act
  • CERCLA
  • FLPMA

And a number of other important conservation and land management statutes and policies. The Forest Service, with public input, also develops Forest Management Plans and Travel Analysis Reports. In sum, The Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act does not "strip protections" but instead will improve the ability to restore wildlife habitats, enhance sportsmen opportunities, mitigate wildfire risk, and increase multiple-use opportunity in Montana. Montanans have already waited too long for Congress to act on these WSAs. It's time to listen to the science, listen to those on the ground, and return these areas to general management. Thank you to our witnesses for their attendance in today's hearing, I look forward to your testimony.

Daines and Raby discussed the need to unlock WSAs:

Daines: Mr. Raby, when FLPMA was enacted, the BLM was directed to identify lands with wilderness characteristics. Congress has the opportunity to consider adding these lands to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Today, the BLM manages 487 Wilderness Study Areas, totaling about 11.1 million acres. 37 of these are in Montana. Until Congress decides what to do with the WSAs, the BLM continues to manage the area with the study status in limbo indefinitely. Mr. Raby, what are the long-term consequences for recreation, forest management, and even wildfire response of Wilderness Study Areas not getting resolved?

Raby: Wilderness Study designation complicates multiple use management. And so, it inherently limits our ability to carry out hazardous fuels reduction treatments. It can affect forest management activities. It can create limitations on recreation and access. Those in your legislation have never been found suitable for wilderness. And that's since 1986.

Daines: Do you agree that Congress does need to move forward to finally resolve these 11 million acres currently in limbo to either put them in permanent Wilderness or back to general management?

Raby: Yes.

Daines and French discussed grazing in WSAs:

Daines: Deputy Chief French, the Forest Service determined the Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area was identified as unsuitable for wilderness over thirty years ago and that was reaffirmed again in the fall of 2021 after extensive public engagement. Can you briefly talk about what led to this determination and what public input there was in that process?

French: Our force planning process that look at this a second time, the engagement occurred

over the course of six years, many, many public meetings. I think there were over 100 organizations that commented we had about 1,200 individual comment letters that came in.

Daines: The Forest Service also manages four separate grazing allotments that cover the majority of the WSA. In 2019, the Forest Service reported to the Montana Legislature that there is no mining and vegetative management is minimal, though the Forest Service has recommended, "Nearly 1 million board feet of harvest per year for fuels management and to help maintain early successional habitat for elk." Can you confirm for the committee that this continues to be the recommendation and that releasing the Middle Fork Judith back to general management will benefit hazardous fuels reduction and wildlife habitat?

French: Yes.

Daines: How does the current designation affect the grazing allotments and what happens if the WSA is returned to general management?

French: It's being managed as wilderness right now. It changes the way we can access and the way we can do improvements for our permittees that have range allotments in those places. It limits our ability for flexibility for increasing some of those allotments because Wilderness requires to only to allow what's historically there when it was designated. And it limits our ability for active management in those areas. Even in some places folks not wanting to see prescribed fire, although we can do. All of that is limited by the designation, of which, again, at the request of Congress, to see if we could do, and through a large public process, we determined no, twice.

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