UM Poll: Over Three-Quarters of Montana Voters Support the Gallatin Forest Partnership’s Vision

UM Poll: Over Three-Quarters of Montana Voters Support the Gallatin Forest Partnership’s Vision

Earlier this week, the University of Montana released its biennial Voter Survey on Public Lands. Commissioned by the University of Montana’s Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative and conducted by a group of bipartisan pollsters, the survey asked a randomized sample of 500 registered voters what they thought about a variety of public lands issues.

The results are clear: Montanans overwhelmingly support our vision for the wild heart of the Gallatin. The survey revealed that 77 percent support the proposal to protect the Gallatin Range’s wilderness study area by protecting important wildlife areas, limiting new development, maintaining existing recreation uses and access, protecting vital headwaters, and designating new wilderness.

Securing historic large-scale protections for this crucial wild area is one of the foundations of the Gallatin Forest Partnership Agreement, which calls for protecting over 250,000 acres of national forest between Bozeman and Yellowstone. Large portions of the Agreement were adopted into the 2022 Custer Gallatin National Forest Plan, and now we’re working to introduce legislation that will expand the protections in the Forest Plan and make them permanent, protecting the habitat, solitude, clean water, and recreation that make this place so special.

Want to learn more about the Gallatin Forest Partnership Agreement? Check out our story map!

The poll results and an accompanying presentation summarizing the study are available on the University of Montana’s Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative’s website.


Right now, you can show your support for the Gallatin Forest Partnership by endorsing the Agreement, and we’ll let you know when you can take further action to secure permanent protection for the Gallatin and Madison Ranges.