Bordering Yellowstone National Park, the 937,000-acre Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is a spectacular piece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem mostly in Montana, with a small portion in Wyoming. The Wilderness is home to Montana’s tallest peak—12,799-foot Granite Peak—which towers above the Beartooth Plateau, plus other rugged peaks, hundreds of small lakes in glacial cirques, alpine meadows, active glaciers, and dense forests. Grizzly bears, moose, elk, mule deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pikas, wolves, and many other animals make their home here.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Forest Service has proposed to re-open two long-vacant grazing allotments in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness to cattle grazing as part of its “East Paradise Range Allotment Management Plan.” The allotments are steep and unsuitable for cattle grazing, and have been closed to grazing for 20 years.

Comments are due December 17, so please take action today!

Allowing cattle grazing in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness would create substantial negative impacts to the Wilderness and its watersheds and native wildlife. The Forest Service’s own biologist concluded that re-opening these allotments would likely harm grizzly bears. Additionally, cattle grazing would directly reduce native forage available for wildlife, damage vegetation and riparian areas, degrade water quality, and spread invasive weeds.