To the editor,
Running down the trail with rosy cheeks and muddy shoes my kiddos shout, “Look what we found!” One brandishes a wooden lightsaber (mini tree stump) and one hands me a freshly picked lupine. This is why I love wild spaces–they imprint lasting memories on our hearts.
The proposed Greater Yellowstone Conservation and Recreation Act will protect 250,000 acres. Think about the land you live on–it’s likely less than one acre. Two-hundred and fifty thousand acres is over 390 square miles. For you skiers, that’s equivalent to the terrain of 32 COMBINED Big Sky Ski Resorts and Bridger Bowl Ski Areas.
The edge of the current Gallatin Wildlife Management Area is our backyard and we want to prevent the irreparable consequences of losing this unbroken corridor to development. Please consider this an open invitation to come play in our backyard anytime. The freedom to run, hike, horseback ride, mountain bike and hunt on this land is sacred to us.
Now is the time to protect what we love. How many photos have you saved of your most loved subdivision or paved road?
As a direct descendent of Montana ranchers and copper mine workers, I appreciate the balance between land conservation and use. The Gallatin Forest Partnership, the coalition behind this act, unites recreationists like me with others under the common goal of protecting our beloved wilderness.
Protecting wild spaces means advocating for them. Together, we need more purposeful actions than adorning water bottles with wildflower stickers, doling kudos on Strava, or gushing wilderness posts on social media (yeah, I’m guilty on all counts). Instead, let’s endorse this act and make the next generation proud.
To keep the Gallatin and Madison ranges untamed we should take our queue from modern poetry and, “Love her, but leave her wild.”
Jenny Heglund
Gallatin Gateway, Montana
