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A Conservation
History of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front |
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1913- The Montana state legislature takes the first
step in protecting the wildlife habitat of the Rocky Mountain
Front by designating the Sun River Game Preserve. |
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1928- Bob Marshall takes his first hike into the wild
country which will later bear his name, starting in the
Swan Range at Jewel Basin and walking over 100 miles to
Holland Lake. |
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1940- Secretary of Agriculture H.A. Wallace signs an
order uniting three Forest Service "primitive areas"
and additional lands into the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Area. |
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1947- The Sun River Game Range, first of five state
and private wildlife reserves, is established on the Rocky
Mountain Front. Choteau rancher Carl Malone put up the
money for the purchase, until the state Fish and Game
Department could raise funds. |
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The
Sun River Wildlife Management Area. Photo by Cameron Naficy. |
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1950s- Hunters and ranchers fended off Bureau of Reclamation
proposals for the Sun Butte Dam, which would have flooded
a vast portion of the upper Sun River. |
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1953- Flathead sportsmen initiate campaign to add portions
of the Swan Range, Spotted Bear, and upper Middle Fork
Flathead River to the Bob Marshall Wilderness. |
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1972- Conservationists persuade Congress to add the
Lincoln-Scapegoat area to the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
This was the first citizen-established wilderness in the
country. |
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1973- Blackfeet Tribal Council passes resolution declaring
the entire Badger-Two Medicine area of the Rocky Mountain
Front as "sacred ground." |
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1978- The Great Bear Wilderness is designated, and a
portion of the Teton-Birch Creek area of the Rocky Mountain
Front is added to the Bob Marshall Wilderness. |
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1983- At the urging of Rep. Pat Williams, the U.S. House
Natural Resources Committee orders an emergency withdrawal
of the Bob Marshall Wilderness from oil and gas leasing. |
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1984-1994- in ten separate bills Congress adds lands
to the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex. |
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June 1993- Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt establishes
a moratorium on oil and gas development within the Badger-Two
Medicine area. Later extended to 1996. |
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May 1994- The U.S. House of Representatives passes HR
2473 which includes additions to the Bob Marshall Wilderness
complex, wilderness study area designation for the Badger-Two
Medicine, and mineral withdrawal of lands near Gibson
Reservoir. |
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February 1997- Montana’s Senate Natural Resources
Committee rejects an industry resolution urging extensive
leasing of public lands within the Rocky Mountain Front. |
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September 1997- Lewis and Clark National Forest Supervisor
Gloria Flora issues a historic decision to remove all
national forest lands within the Rocky Mountain Front
from further oil and gas leasing for the next 10 to 15
years. |
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January 2001- All national forest land in the Rocky
Mountain Front is withdrawn from mineral entry to hard
rock mining for 20 years. |
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May 2001- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds Flora’s
1997 decision to ban new oil and gas leases in the Rocky
Mountain Front (the decision had been appealed by industry).
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