Daines Gains Federal Support to Strip Wilderness Potential from Montana Sites

Senator Steve Daines received federal agency backing on Thursday, February 12, 2026, for his bill to downgrade three remote Montana landscapes from potential wilderness to regular public forest.

Officials from the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management told the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests and Mining they supported Daines’ S.3527, the Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act. Chris French, associate chief for the Forest Service, told the subcommittee the Trump administration didn’t support creating new wildernesses or wilderness study designations. BLM state official John...