Montana is changing. Our population is growing, communities are expanding, subdivisions are reaching farther into the urban interface, and development is putting increasing pressure on the lands that make Montana special. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Montana’s population reached nearly 1.145 million in July 2025 — about 5.6% higher than in 2020.
That growth forces an important question: How do we balance development while preserving the landscapes that make Montana so unique? The answer is well planned development with a commitment to protecting the large, intact landscapes that are becoming increasingly rare.
Montana’s roadless national forest lands are an important part of that equation. Approximately 6.4 million acres of Montana’s national forests are classified as Inventoried Roadless Areas — roughly 37% of the state’s national forest lands. These are not vacant lands waiting for development. They are working landscapes that provide clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation, hunting, fishing, solitude and probably most importantly, opportunities for future generations.
Roads fragment wildlife habitat, alter drainage patterns, increase human disturbance and open the door to further development. Every new road pushes the boundary between developed Montana and natural Montana a little farther into the backcountry.
Roads Are Not a Substitute for Wildfire Policy
We should be cautious about the argument that building more roads into roadless country is necessary to prevent or fight wildfire. If roads alone were the answer to catastrophic wildfire, heavily roaded communities like Los Angeles, Boulder and Lahaina would not experience devastating fires. Clearly, something much more powerful is driving extreme wildfire behavior.
Climate and weather are major drivers of fire behavior and severity. Meanwhile, research shows that human activity accounts for the vast majority of wildfire starts and that fires are disproportionately likely to begin near roads.
More roads are not a substitute for sound wildfire policy — and we should not sacrifice intact landscapes based on the assumption that they are.
We Already Have a Road Maintenance Problem
Forest Service roads already come with a substantial price tag — over $7 billion in backlog maintenance nationwide. Roads wash out. Bridges deteriorate. Culverts fail. If we struggle to adequately maintain the roads we already have, why would we commit ourselves to building more roads into remote country?
There is also a powerful economic argument for keeping roadless lands intact.
People come to Montana because of what makes Montana different. They come for the mountains, valleys and the Big Sky, rivers that still feel wild, abundant wildlife, and landscapes where they can experience something increasingly rare in America: solitude. Those qualities support tourism, hunting, fishing, hiking, outfitting, guiding, horseback riding, motorized recreation and countless local businesses.
But there is a fundamental contradiction in Montana’s growth story. As people move here for the amenities Montana offers, that growth can threaten those same amenities.
We cannot stop all growth. Nor should we. But we can decide where and how that growth occurs. We can encourage development where roads, utilities and communities already exist. And we can recognize that some landscapes are more valuable left intact than they would ever be after being carved up by roads and development.
Roadless Lands Give Us Options
Once a road fragments an intact watershed or wildlife habitat, simply closing the gate does not restore what was lost.
Protection is not about locking Montana away. It is about making sure Montana still has intact landscapes.
The 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule provides an important balance. Roadless areas remain available for multiple uses while retaining protections against many forms of road construction and development. That balance is worth preserving.
We should not measure progress by miles of road built into the backcountry, but by whether we can grow while still protecting the mountains, forests, rivers, wildlife habitat and open spaces that make Montana, Montana.
That is why the proposed Draft EIS to repeal the Roadless Rule by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture deserves serious opposition.
Montana is growing. That is precisely why we need to protect what cannot be replaced. Roadless lands are not obstacles to Montana’s future. They are part of Montana’s future.
Now is the time for Montanans to make their voices heard and oppose repeal of the Roadless Rule.
Mack Long is the retired supervisor of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 in Missoula, where he led the agency’s work in west-central Montana for 16 years following a statewide career as a game warden.