Welcome - to the Gallatin Wildlife Association website.

We certainly hope you become more knowledgeable about GWA as you wander through the pages of our website. We are a small, but vocal non-profit organization located in Bozeman, Montana advocating for wildlife, their respective habitat, and migration corridors across southwestern Montana, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and the northern Rocky Mountains. We advocate for wildlife and fisheries by utilizing science and the law. GWA, founded in 1976, has long recognized the intense pressures on our wildlife from habitat loss and climate change, and we advocate for science-based management of public lands for diverse public values, including but not limited to hunting and angling.   

To learn more about GWA, who we are, and what we've done: click here                                                      

GWA's Family is Growing:

We would like you to welcome two new board members to the GWA family: Noreen Breeding as a GWA Board Member and Dr. John Carter as a new member to our Science Advisory Board. A preview of their biosketch are below, but can be found in more detail on "About Us" webpage. We're a little late in reporting this, but we want to take time out from all the negative news of the day and report some good findings on behalf of our organization.

GWA New Board Member:

Noreen Breeding  - 2016 – 2025 Board member of Save Our Gallatin Front which purchased a timber conservation license for the Limestone Creek area on the west side of Mt. Ellis from Montana DNRC to prevent logging and the building of logging roads in this wildlife rich area.

2018 – 2022 Attended public meetings and submitted written comments on the 2022 Custer Gallatin National Forest Land Management Plan which finalized a key linkage area for wildlife migration at the north end of the Gallatin Range adjacent to Mt. Ellis.

GWA New Science Advisory Board Member:

Dr. John Carter - John grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina learning about forests, streams and wildlife from his grandfather who took him camping, hiking and hunting at an early age.  The love of those mountains has stayed with him throughout his life. He obtained a mechanical engineering degree at Ga Tech in Atlanta and then worked designing and building industrial and commercial facilities across the eastern US. During those years, he would head into the mountains, the Smokies, the Appalachian Trail and Forests whenever he could. In the early 70s, he gave up his engineering and construction job to move to Utah. Whenever he could he went into the western wilderness and deserts to explore, backpack, climb and fish.

Concern over the future of South Cottonwood Canyon is once again on the hearts and minds of residents of Gallatin County. Many residents have been through this agony once, if not more than twice. It seems as if  the forces determined to log South Cottonwood just won't take a hint.

LEAVE SOUTH COTTONWOOD CANYON ALONE!

We at GWA highlight this issue once again because the public has to become involved. The Custer Gallatin National Forest has requested and they have been approved to receive emergency status for the slightly less than 8,000 acre logging project with logging, fire regiment, and road building. The fight to save South Cottonwood drainage from logging decades ago was a glorious victory with fond memories, it is going to take that same kind of cohesion and passion again among local residents to fight off another logging venture into South Cottonwood. The goal this time should be outright protection, by making this drainage part of the wilderness campaign. We need to do so for many reasons. The protection of the biodiversity of the GYE for one. Timber harvesting and road building will destroy what so many residents have been trying to protect for generations.

To learn more: click here

South Cottonwood and Hyalite drainages are critical for wildlife habitat and for connectivity. While the public comment period has officially closed, GWA is urging the Forest Service to hold public meetings and extend and reopen the comment period again. We do so because the majority of the residents of Gallatin County have no clue as to the potential threat that is about to be imposed upon them. We need an explanation and a robust discussion of why now, why is there an emergency now. Will these vegetative treatments really protect homes and fire threats in the Gallatin Front range? We know the answer to that.

WE NEED TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD NOW!

We're looking to find 1000 Voices in opposition to this Fuel Reduction Project, a project that could very well cause harm to endangered and threatened species as listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Engage in the process and become a voice for Hyalite/Cottonwood. The map and legend below showcase those areas to be affected by the different fuel treatments. However, we don't have information on the proposed road building in the treatment zone.

Our National Forests

and Public Lands are under attack by our

own Government.

The One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R. 1):

Not Surprisingly - This Bill Passed and is now Law!

While it may be Big, it is not Beautiful.

The Gallatin Wildlife Association has been in service to the community for 49 years, leaving next year as our 50^th anniversary. In all that time, I seriously doubt that our organization has seen the amount of negative impact as we will from this moment in time, much of that coming from the passage of H.R. 1, the Big Beautiful Bill. This bill along with the series of other horrible efforts by this administration will surely affect the ecological quality of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) as we know it.

This bill’s passage will prioritize timber harvest across the west, including lands in our own backyard. This act alone will degrade the landscape and the ecological integrity of GYE by the construction of more roads and increasing timber production. All of this design action will cause habitat fragmentation, degrade wildlife habitat security, decrease the forest’s ability to sequester carbon to mitigate climate change, and increase the likelihood of inviting invasive species to the landscape. For us that means more time fighting the system with more hours during the day, and less time enjoying the world as we would like to live it.