Help keep the Front the way it is now! Increasingly, important habitat along the Rocky Mountain Front is under pressure from the subdivision of private land for residential development. Conservation easements have proven to be a valuable tool for protecting wildlife and a traditional way of life by leaving land in private ownership. However, in order to capitalize on the gains already made, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in need of renewed funding to purchase additional conservation easements in the coming years. Learn how you can help this important program>>
Travel Plan for the Rocky Mountain Front Released!
The Coalition applauded the Forest Service for its plan that protects wildlife while emphasizing traditional uses on the Front. On October 1st, the Lewis and Clark released a final Travel Plan for the lower two-thirds of the Rocky Mountain Front covering roughly 390,000 acres, excluding the Badger-Two Medicine area. The Plan will guide all travel, recreation, and other uses on the Front for the next two decades, specifying routes for hikers and horseback riders, snowmobiles and off-road vehicles (ORVs) ...more>

In The News > Opinions/Letters

Mary Sexton: Seek common ground for future of the Front
2007-01-10 - The withdrawal of the Rocky Mountain Front from oil and gas leasing on federal lands represnts a sturdy new wind blowing not only along the Front but throughout the West. Communities, individauls and organizations are coming together to sustain our landscapes and ways of life, writes Mary Sexton, a former Teton County commissioner who now heads the Montana Department of Natural Resources. (Choteau Acantha)

Thanks to Senators Baucus and Burns for legislation protecting the Front
2006-12-22 - Gene Sentz: Many of us who live and work along the Rocky Mountain Front are delighted that the president has signed into law a provision crafted by Senators Max Baucus and Conrad Burns to withdraw the nation’s public lands along the fabulous Front from future oil and gas leasing and mining. This legislation continues the century-long Montana tradition of conserving this special place. It is a solution that began with local sportsmen, landowners, business people, and others who believe in keeping the Front the way it is now – open and accessible for traditional backcountry outdoor enthusiasts.We thank many Bush administration officials and Montana public servants, plus countless others, for encouraging and supporting this bipartisan positive step to protect the Rocky Mountain Front, one of America’s premier undeveloped wild areas. And special thanks to Senators Baucus and Burns for legislating it! Our kids and grandkids surely will thank us all. (Missoulian)

Leasing ban a gift that will keep giving
2006-12-17 - Gerry Jennings: A great threat has been removed from one on Montana's most spectacular landscapes, thanks to the efforts of Montana's senior senator, Max Baucus. Last week, Baucus' legislation to prevent all future oil and gas leases on public lands on the Front passed Congress. This is a home-grown idea, intitiated by Montanans, and it provides a creative solution for keeping the Front the way it is now--open and accessible fore everyone to enjoy. (Great Falls Tribune)

The Rocky Mountain Front, Too Important to Drill
2006-12-12 - Joel Connelly: Without fanfare, as part of a bill bestowing tax breaks across the country, Congress has moved to protect one corner of America that Lewis and Clark would still recognize 200 years after the Voyage of Discovery. Lawmakers imposed a permanent ban on oil, gas and mining development along the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana. Described as "a crowning jewel" of the Big Sky State - and the country - by Sen. Max Baucus, the Front is where the Rocky Mountains rise directly out of the Great Plains. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Burns takes right stance
2006-07-03 - SToney Burk: Sen. Conrad Burns' proposal to withdraw the Front from future leasing directly reflects the hard work and sincere cooperation between industry, individual citizens, conservation groups, and Sen. Max Baucus. A homegrown solution has emerged to protect the Front. A ban on energy leasing proposed, together with the agreement by private entities to buy out the existing leases, should ensure the Front's natural values will remain a bedrock of Montana's identity. (Billings Gazette)

Front protection rises above partisan politics
2006-07-01 - Chris Marchion: Montana's Rocky Mountain Front has proven to be a landscape where both red and blue political interests seem to mix. The result is a purple message: let's ensure the Front stays the way it is today by protecting it for the many generations of tomorrow. (Daily InterLake)

'Alternative 3' would best preserve the finest qualities of Front
2005-11-27 - Patrick McGuffin: It shouldn't come as a surprise that the vast majority of Montanans support quiet trails and traditional, nonmotorized recreation on the Rocky Mountain Front. The unspoiled landscape of the Front represents the best of Montana: the legacy of our past and the promise of our future. Seventy-six percent of unique comment letters from Montanans urged the Forest Service to implement Alternative 3, the Travel Plan option that emphasizes traditional foot and horse travel, while allowing motorized vehicles on existing roads. (Great Falls Tribune)

Don't sacrifice the Last Best Place for energy
2005-11-25 - Janelle Holden: One of my first memories is of riding eight miles into the Bob Marshall Wilderness for a family camping trip. I was six, scrawny and fearful, and I cried the entire way into camp. But after surviving that first bout with the Rocky Mountain Front's sheer cliffs and strong winds, I became hardier, and the trip became a summer family ritual. It's been a few years since I rode that trail, but I've thought a lot about it since the Front became a target for natural gas exploration. I've thought about whether I would be willing to give up that ride and those views to continue heating my home. .... We don't have to give up our most cherished places to quench our thirst for cheap energy sources. We will, however, have to continue and perhaps increase production in places where we have proven reserves. (Bozeman Daily Chronicle)

Environmental voices provide balance
2005-11-02 - Ted Cooney: Without the responsible activities of environmentally minded individuals and organizations across the globe, our planet would look and function very differently than it does today. The issue of industrializing the Rocky Mountain Front for mineral extraction has been the subject of open public debate for decades. Without exception, the public has spoken plainly time and time again to protect the region's natural values for future generations. There is no ambiguity regarding the significance of largely undisturbed natural habitat and wildlife health, and the values of those for whom the region represents strong cultural and esthetic ties are acknowledged and respected by most. These lands continue to support important traditional uses (hunting, fishing, eco-touring and education) that generate substantial business and tax revenues. (Choteau Acantha)

Horse, foot travel best for RMF
2005-10-26 - Doug Hammill: To protect public, tribal and private lands along the Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, the Forest Service much pick a realistic Travel Plan alternative. Since lack of funding and resources make it impossible to effectively govern off-road motorized use, this activity should be banned from a landscape as delicate and precious as the Front. (Choteau Acantha)

Alternative 3 best
2005-08-19 - "Off-road motorized use can create conflicts with wildlife, private landowners, hikers, horseback riders and the fragile landscape. … Alternative 3 of the proposed Forest Service Travel Plan, promotes traditional uses of this landscape, such as foot and horse travel, while allowing motorized travel on main access roads to trailheads. Alternative 3 is the most visionary alternative for keeping the Rocky Mountain Front a treasure for future generations." Mary Fay, Great Falls (Great Falls Tribune)

Thunder can help protect fragile area
2005-07-12 - Gloria Flora: A Canadian energy firm will find that it makes good business sense to relinquish its energy leases on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, revered for its scenery and wildlife. Writing in the Calgary Herald, Gloria Flora, the former National Forest supervisor who withdrew public land along the Front from new energy leasing, urges Thunder Energy to come to the bargaining table. (Available in PDF in our library.) (Calgary Herald)

Mr. President: Please help Montanans preserve the Rocky Mountain Front
2005-02-03 - Montana residents urge President Bush, who visited in February, to permanently protect the Front from energy development and other uses that could degrade Montana's natural wonderland. (Great Falls Tribune)

"Property owners oppose drilling," guest column by George and Patti Widener
2005-02-02 - We own the one and one-half miles of property that Startech Energy wants to cross to access its public-land lease site Blindhorse Creek in the Blackleaf area of the Rocky Mountain Front. This private land is very special, but its incredible wildlife values will be lost if Startech builds a road across it to drill for natuiral gas. (Choteau Acantha)

Gene Sentz: Development of any kind would diminish Front?s greatness
2003-09-14 - Summary: Exploiting the magnificent Rocky Mountain Front on a gamble that it might hold a few days' worth of energy would be horribly wrong. (Great Falls Tribune)

Rick Graetz: Spectacular Front worth protecting
2003-05-05 - Summary: Montanans of all political persuasions and walks of life have worked together to safeguard the Rocky Mountain Front more nearly a century. In the face of new threats, this place is still best left alone. (Billings Gazette)