What is it about the Last Best Place? Is it the evening light that paints our mountains golden, the tug of a wild trout, or the vastness of our prairies and the wildlife they hold? Whether you’re a fifth-generation grain producer or a new resident in a suburb, we can all agree: Montana is worth saving.
But as our state grows and more people arrive, that’s getting harder. Subdivisions encroach on working lands, access gates block hunting grounds, and parks and public lands face more pressure. Growth is inevitable. Our challenge is to keep it from overwhelming what makes Montana special.
One of our best tools to keep Montana Montana is an important funding source that was established by the Montana Legislature in 2021 to protect our outdoor way of life. We are the only state in the nation that dedicates a portion of recreational marijuana sales to invest in our great outdoors – a forward-thinking commitment signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte.
Since then, Montana has used these funds to strengthen our state parks, build and maintain trails, and help keep sensitive wildlife off the federal endangered species list. But perhaps their greatest impact is through the Habitat Montana program – the state’s best tool for conserving wildlife, protecting working lands, upholding property rights, and unlocking public access. Habitat Montana has traditionally relied on hunter license dollars; however, new revenue from recreational marijuana has helped maximize its conservation impact.
In 2022, Habitat Montana funds helped preserve 5,677 wild acres in the Big Snowies and unlocked access to 100,000 acres of adjacent public land. More recently, Habitat Montana funds were leveraged for the first phase of the 150,000-acre Montana Great Outdoors Project near Kalispell in response to a wave of land sales that have jeopardized long-cherished public access and undercut the timber economy that many local communities rely on.
This project uses voluntary conservation easements to protect some of the last working forestlands in the region. These voluntary easements are helping keep the land in sustainable timber production, supporting jobs and ensuring permanent public access for hunting, fishing, and recreation. It’s a win for local communities, a win for working lands and wildlife, and a win for generations of Montanans who will continue to enjoy these special places.
The challenges facing Northwest Montana are echoed across the state. Meeting the growing demand for local solutions depends on adequately funding conservation. Thankfully, Governor Gianforte’s proposed budget for the next two years includes a significant boost to the Habitat Montana account. While this is a promising step, it’s only a short-term appropriation. The long-term health of our outdoor places depends on safeguarding the ongoing tax revenue stream that maintains our ability to fish, camp, and hunt.
But once again, this investment is on the line as we head into another legislative session. We’ve seen this before. Year after year, proposals resurface to reallocate marijuana revenue and strip funding from Montana’s most effective conservation programs. These efforts share one thing in common: they ignore the fact that our way of life – our working lands and wildlife, public access, and state parks and trails – depends on protecting these investments for the long haul.
We won’t let this investment slip away. This session, we are united in our commitment to fight for the long-term funding that safeguards Montana’s way of life. Standing with us is a diverse and powerful coalition of outdoor advocates: state park supporters, snowmobilers, hunters, anglers, biologists, small business owners, mountain bikers, and landowners.
As Montana keeps growing, these investments in our parks, trails, and working lands are needed more than ever. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to protect the Montana we cherish and the legacy we leave for future generations.
Frank Szollosi is executive director of Montana Wildlife Federation, Whitney Tawney is executive director of the Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund and John Todd is executive director of Wild Montana.