I 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 6788 To release from wilderness study area designation certain land in the State of Montana, to improve the management of that land, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 17, 2025 Mr. DOWNING introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL To release from wilderness study area designation certain land in the State of Montana, to improve the management of that land, and for other purposes.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Montana Sportsmen 5 Conservation Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
7 Congress finds that— 8 (1) under the Montana Wilderness Study Act of ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
9 1977 (Public Law 95–150; 91 Stat. 1243), 9 wilder- 10 ness study areas comprising a total of 973,000 acres
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Jan 06, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 2 1 of land in the State of Montana were set aside for 2 the Secretary of Agriculture to evaluate the suit- 3 ability of the wilderness study areas for designation 4 as wilderness, in accordance with the Wilderness Act 5 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), with the evaluation to be 6 completed not later than 5 years after the date of 7 enactment of the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 8 1977 (Public Law 95–150; 91 Stat. 1243); 9 (2) between 1979 and 1986, the Chief of the 10 Forest Service— 11 (A) completed the studies of the 9 wilder- 12 ness study areas referred to in paragraph (1); 13 and 14 (B) based on those studies, determined 15 that 608,700 acres of the original 973,000 16 acres designated as wilderness study areas by 17 the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 1977 18 (Public Law 95–150; 91 Stat. 1243) were un- 19 suitable for inclusion in the National Wilder- 20 ness Preservation System, including the 81,000 21 acres within the Middle Fork Judith Wilderness 22 Study Area; 23 (3) in 2021, following a 6-year collaborative 24 process, the Forest Service again determined, in the ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
25 revision of the Helena Lewis and Clark National
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VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Jan 06, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 3 1 Forest plan, that the Middle Fork Judith Wilderness 2 Study Area is unsuitable for inclusion in the Na- 3 tional Wilderness Preservation System; 4 (4) under the Federal Land Policy and Man- 5 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), 38 6 wilderness study areas comprising a total of 447,327 7 acres of land in the State of Montana were set aside 8 by the Bureau of Land Management to evaluate the 9 suitability of the wilderness study areas for designa- 10 tion as wilderness, with the evaluation to be com- 11 pleted not later than 15 years after the date of en- 12 actment of that Act; 13 (5) in 1991, the Director of the Bureau of 14 Land Management submitted to the President a rec- 15 ommendation on the suitability for designation of 16 the areas described in paragraph (4), which was sub- 17 sequently submitted to Congress, under which the 18 Director of the Bureau of Land Management deter- 19 mined that 273,828 acres in the State of Montana 20 designated as wilderness study areas by the Federal 21 Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 22 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) were unsuitable for wilderness 23 designation, including— 24 (A) the 11,380 acres of land within the ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
25 Hoodoo Mountain Wilderness Study Area; and
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VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Jan 06, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 4 1 (B) the 11,580 acres of land within the 2 Wales Creek Wilderness Study Area; 3 (6) in 2020, following a 5-year collaborative 4 process, the Bureau of Land Management, in the re- 5 vision of the Missoula Resource Management Plan— 6 (A) reaffirmed that the Hoodoo Mountain 7 Wilderness Study Area and the Wales Creek 8 Wilderness Study Area were unsuitable for wil- 9 derness designation; and 10 (B) recommended alternative management 11 parameters for the Hoodoo Mountain Wilder- 12 ness Study Area and the Wales Creek Wilder- 13 ness Study Area; 14 (7) despite the recommendations of the Forest 15 Service and the Bureau of Land Management, after 16 the completion of the studies for suitability of the 17 land in the State of Montana designated as wilder- 18 ness study areas under the Montana Wilderness 19 Study Act of 1977 (Public Law 95–150; 91 Stat. 20 1243) and the Federal Land Policy and Manage- 21 ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)— 22 (A) over 1,100,000 acres of public land in 23 the State of Montana remain as wilderness 24 study areas until Congress acts; and ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
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VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Jan 06, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 5 1 (B) over 700,000 acres of public land in 2 the State of Montana currently designated as 3 wilderness study areas have been determined 4 unsuitable for wilderness management; 5 (8) if the wilderness study area designation was 6 removed from each of the Middle Fork Judith Wil- 7 derness Study Area, the Hoodoo Mountain Wilder- 8 ness Study Area, and the Wales Creek Wilderness 9 Study Area, land managers would be able to better 10 conserve and manage the areas in accordance with 11 applicable land and resource management plans that 12 retain certain protections for the areas, while pro- 13 viding for— 14 (A) enhanced sportsmen opportunities in 15 the backcountry of Montana; 16 (B) improved public access; and 17 (C) the conduct of wildlife habitat and 18 wildfire mitigation projects; 19 (9) the applicable land and resource manage- 20 ment plans referred to in paragraph (8) were devel- 21 oped through a multi-year, collaborative process sup- 22 ported by— 23 (A) resource needs and conditions; and 24 (B) the best available science; and ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
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VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Jan 06, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 6 1 (10) following release, the respective land man- 2 agement agencies shall continue managing the areas 3 described in paragraph (8)— 4 (A) in accordance with applicable environ- 5 mental and administrative laws; and 6 (B) based on local input, multiple-use and 7 sustained yield principles, and land manage- 8 ment objectives. 9 SEC. 3. RELEASE AND IMPROVED MANAGEMENT OF LAND
10 COMPRISING CERTAIN WILDERNESS STUDY
11 AREAS.
12 (a) MIDDLE FORK JUDITH WILDERNESS STUDY 13 AREA.—The approximately 81,000 acres of land com- 14 prising the Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area— 15 (1) shall no longer be subject to section 3(a) of 16 the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 1977 (Public 17 Law 95–150; 91 Stat. 1244); and 18 (2) shall be managed in accordance with the ap- 19 plicable land and resource management plan most 20 recently adopted under section 6 of the Forest and 21 Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 22 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604). 23 (b) HOODOO MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS STUDY AREA 24 AND WALES CREEK WILDERNESS STUDY AREA.—The apssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
25 proximately 11,380 acres of land comprising the Hoodoo
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VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Jan 06, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 7 1 Mountain Wilderness Study Area and the approximately 2 11,580 acres of land comprising the Wales Creek Wilder- 3 ness Study Area— 4 (1) shall no longer be subject to section 603(c) 5 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 6 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782(c)); and 7 (2) shall be managed in accordance with the ap- 8 plicable land management plans adopted under sec- 9 tion 202 of that Act (43 U.S.C. 1712). Æ ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
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