After 25 years, Montanans turn common ground into landmark public lands legislation

MISSOULA, Mont. [Sept. 9, 2026] — In Montana, public lands have a way of bringing people together.

Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke, co-chair of the Congressional Public Lands Caucus and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior, announced Wednesday that he will introduce the A River Runs Through It Act, uniting two longtime Montana-made public lands proposals—the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship and the Lincoln Prosperity proposals—into one piece of legislation for the Blackfoot watershed and surrounding public lands.

More than a bill introduction, this moment is the culmination of 25 years of Montanans doing what Montanans have always done when it comes to public lands: debating, disagreeing and ultimately finding a way forward.

It is the latest chapter for a storied landscape where people have wrestled for generations with how to use and care for the land—from the fierce debates surrounding the creation of the Scapegoat Wilderness to the rise and fall of the Mike Horse Mine. At the center of those debates have always been the people who live here and rely on the land for both work and play.

“This is what 25 years of refusing to give up on common ground looks like. For a generation, Montanans have kept showing up because the freedom to enjoy these public lands, the responsibility to conserve them and the obligation to pass them on to future generations are bigger than any one disagreement,” said Barb Cestero, Montana state director for The Wilderness Society. “We thank Congressman Zinke for recognizing the extraordinary collaboration behind this Montana-built proposal and for carrying it forward in Congress. It honors decades of work by the people of the Blackfoot and is a fitting addition to his long record of championing Montana’s public lands.”

The legislation reflects the same give-and-take that shaped it. It would guide the future of roughly 425,000 acres of public lands, adding almost 100,000 acres to the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat wilderness areas while also securing motorized recreation opportunities, including snowmobile access and the opportunity for a more than 70-mile connected off-highway vehicle trail loop. It would also put people to work restoring forests and streams, reduce wildfire risk and conserve the headwaters and wildlife habitat that make the Blackfoot what it is.

The two proposals evolved through decades of conversation. Boundaries changed. Ideas changed. People argued and kept coming back to the table. The result is legislation rooted in a distinctly Montana idea: we don’t have to agree on everything to find common ground on the public lands that belong to all of us. 

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