Wilderness and Refuges

“Wilderness is disappearing like a snowbank on a south-facing slope on a warm June day.” Bob Marshall 1937

Southwest Montana holds six of Montana’s 15 federally designated Wilderness areas and more than 50% of the 3.3 million acres. They are the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, Gates of the Mountains, Anaconda Pintler, Lee Metcalf and Red Rock Lakes.

From the cathedral hush of “the Bob” to the chatter of birds on the wing at Red Rocks, Southwest Montana’s wilderness country ranks with the best in the nation.

And each is a well-spring for North America … the Crown of the Continent and the Greater Yellowstone ecosystems.

Then there are the many thousands of acres of undisturbed wildlands not designated as national wilderness areas – the “big W” – but just as wild and managed for their wilderness characteristics. Every one of Southwest Montana’s 22 mountain ranges can boast of these special bits of geography!