In March, volunteers from GFP partner Wild Montana led a late-winter snowshoe adventure up the Porcupine Creek drainage southeast of Big Sky. Porcupine Creek leads into the heart of the Hyalite-Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study, which is important to wildlife and human recreators alike.

Close to Yellowstone, the Porcupine-Buffalo Horn are provides important habitat for species including elk, grizzly bear, moose, bighorn sheep, and even wolverine. Trail users are just as varied here: hikers, horseback riders, mountain bikers, dirt bikers, and snowmobilers have used the area for many years.

This part of the Gallatin Range has offered room for wildlife, adventure, and solitude for countless years. The Gallatin Forest Partnership proposal will protect this area with historic wilderness designations, the strongest protections possible, from Yellowstone’s northern border to Hyalite Peak at the southern end of Hyalite Canyon.

The GFP proposal will also protect all existing recreation – motorized, mechanized, and human powered – in the area. To preserve access and habitat, it will designate the area southeast of Big Sky along highway 191 as a wildlife and recreation management area, which will maintain all existing recreational access and protect wildlife habitat by preventing new trail construction.

Check out the details of the GFP proposal right here.

The vast majority of our common-sense proposal was incorporated into the Custer Gallatin National Forest plan, would protect all the recreational and wildlife values of this special place, and it was wonderful to share the beauty of this spot and the importance of protecting its future for wildlife and humans alike.