CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Record is Clear: The Wilderness Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and Montana Wilderness Association have Consistently Undermined the Roadless Rule

Beartooth Range, Montana. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

The Wilderness Society, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and the Montana Wilderness Association, now rebranded “Wild Montana,” all claim they support the Roadless Rule and have been asking people for donations to oppose efforts to repeal it. But a review of the record shows that these “conservation” groups have supported opening 1,585,000 acres or Roadless and Wilderness Study Areas to logging and road building since the roadless rule went into effect in 2001.

Tracy Stone-Manning, now the President of The Wilderness Society, has been widely quoted as supporting the Roadless Rule. But while working as a top environmental advisor for former Montana Senator Jon Tester, she strongly supported his 2009 Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. The Montana Wilderness Association, now doing business as Wild Montana, was also one of the main cheerleaders for Tester’s bill

Although the bill never passed, it would have opened one million acres of roadless lands in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National........

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