“Your Wild Backyard: A Conservation Strategy for the Gallatin Range” is  the topic of a panel discussion planned for the Bozeman Public Library on Thursday, March 31st from 7 PM to 9 PM. The public is invited, and the event is being sponsored by Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness, an informal group of citizens mostly from Gallatin and Park Counties.

Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness has proposed an unbroken 548,000-acre Gallatin Range Wilderness, which includes all of the remaining roadless lands in the Gallatin National Forest portion of the range plus contiguous lands in Yellowstone National Park. This 229,000-acre wildland is the groups’ primary focus at this time. The Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area encompasses about 150,000 acres of the national forest roadless area.

The discussion will be a participatory event, with a question and answer session following the panelist’s presentations. The panel consists of world-renowned Bozeman wildlife ecologist Dr. Lance Craighead; equally renowned bear biologist Dr. David Mattson of Livingston; Bozeman-based conservationist, wilderness advocate and author Phil Knight; retired Forest Service biologist and conservation activist Dr. Sara Jane Johnson of Three Forks; and Sierra Club Organizing Representative Kiersten Iwai of Bozeman. The panel moderator will be long-time Montana wilderness guide and author Howie Wolke of Park County.

According to panel moderator and wilderness guide Howie Wolke, “Gallatin Range Wilderness is important for maintaining wildness and biodiversity in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. This is world-class wildlife habitat supporting species that are sensitive to human intrusion. Half of the mountain range north of Yellowstone has already been developed and is open to mechanized transportation. Many people feel that what’s left should be protected as designated Wilderness.”

Joe Gutkoski, long-time Montana conservationist, retired Forest Service landscape architect and current member of Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness added, “You can’t have wilderness in little pieces; then it’s not really wilderness. Wildlife needs big chunks of undisturbed wild country and so do many Montanans”.