The Beartooth Mountains contain some of the most extensive alpine terrain in the Rockies. Photo by George Wuerthner
The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) is the most comprehensive and ecologically defensible legislation currently before Congress. The Act was first introduced in 1993.
NREPA was reintroduced by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Madeleine Dean, who introduced the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act in the U.S. Senate (S. 1198) and in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 2420) with fifteen original co-sponsors across both chambers.
The legislation protects approximately 20 million acres of land in five states. To put this into perspective, the state of Maine is approximately 20 million acres. There are five major ecosystem regions included in the Act: the Cabinet-Yaak-Selkirk Ecosystem, the Greater Hell Canyon Ecosystem, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Glacier-Continental Divide Ecosystem, and the Salmon-Selway Ecosystem.
NREPA establishes a pilot system of Wildland Restoration Areas (1,022,769 acres) and creates jobs restoring damage caused by unwise resource extraction practices. Efforts will focus on removing excess and unneeded roads, reducing soil erosion, and restoring native vegetation and water quality.
The Act will protect not only the major roadless areas within each ecosystem but also the wildlife corridors that connect these areas. There is also a wildlands’ recovery area.
NREPA will protect and improve wildlife habitats, enhance watershed protection, store carbon, sustain local economies, and preserve the region’s exceptional wildlands.
Lastly, NREPA will protect 1,810 miles of waterways with Wild, Scenic, and Recreational River designations.
GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem encompasses the highest and most expansive areas of alpine terrain in the entire Northern Rockies, as well as some of the most significant unprotected roadless lands.
The Beartooth Mountains, Wind River Range, Teton Range, Gallatin Range, Madison Range, Gros Ventre, and Wyoming Range are home to the highest peaks.
It is also home to grizzlies, wolves, bison, moose, bighorn sheep, and the largest elk herds in the bioregion.
Most people assume that Yellowstone is a protected wilderness. However, while the NPS generally manages the park as de facto wilderness, in reality, the park has no designated wilderness. The most significant addition in this region is the creation of a 2,030,000-acre Yellowstone Wilderness in Yellowstone National Park.
The same is true of Grand Teton National Park, and NREPA would add 123,000 of designated Wilderness in the park.
Among the significant additions to Wilderness protection are more than 307,000 acres adjacent to the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness, 173,000 addition to the North Absaroka Wilderness, 339,000 acres addition to the Washakie Wilderness, 134,000 acres addition to Gros Ventre Wilderness, 230,000 acres added to the Bridger Wilderness, 56,000 acres added to Jedediah Smith Wilderness.
New wilderness reserves include the creation of a 24,507-acre Cowboys Heaven addition to the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, as well as another 166,494 acres to be added to the Lee Metcalf Wilderness.
NREPA will add some 249,213 acres in the Gallatin Range, the largest unprotected wildlands in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Other significant roadless lands that will be designated as wilderness include 260,677 acres as the Palisades Wilderness.
Some 97,981 acres would be designated as the South Wyoming Wilderness, 314,093 acres as the Grayback Wilderness, 245,154 acres as the Salt River Range Wilderness, 213,457 acres as Mt. Leidy Wilderness, and 60,990 acres as the Lionhead Wilderness.
GREATER SALMON SELWAY ECOSYSTEM
The wild and deep canyons of the Salmon River and its tributaries are central to this ecosystem, as well as roadless lands in the Clearwater and St. Joe drainages.
Salmon and steelhead swim up these rivers to spawn.
The Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and Selway Bitterroot Wilderness make up one of the largest contiguous wilderness areas in the lower 48 states. Landscapes encompass a range of environments, from wet disjunct temperate rain forests to arid grasslands.
Wolves, mountain lions, black bears, elk, moose, and bighorn sheep are all found in this area.
NREPA will add 746,149 acres to the River of No Return Wilderness, 55,170 acres to the Gosspel-Hump Wilderness, and 559,195 acres to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.
Another 547,81 acres will be added to the existing Sawtooth Wilderness.
A 256,084-acre Great Burn Wilderness, 258,972 acres as the Mallard Larkin Wilderness, 250,535 acres as the Bighorn Weitas Wilderness, all on the Clearwater or St. Joe National Forests.
The Pioneer Mountains are located just east of Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo by George Wuerthner
Then, further south, among the larger proposed wilderness areas are the 169,629 acres as the French Creek Wilderness, 248,222 acres as the Secesh Wilderness, 161,269 acres as the Needles Wilderness, and the 305,500-acre Pioneer Mountains Wilderness.
Old cabin along Secesh River, ID. Photo by George Wuerthner
GLACIER NORTHERN CONTINENTAL DIVIDE ECOSYSTEM
Crowned by Glacier National Park, along with the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the area supports the largest grizzly bear population in the bioregion, as well as significant bighorn sheep herds along the Rocky Mountain Front. Bull trout are still found in the Swan, Blackfoot, and Flathead Drainages.
It may surprise some people that there is no designated wilderness in Glacier National Park. NREPA will correct this deficiency by designating 925,000 acres as wilderness.
Other significant roadless lands to be protected include 429,647 acres as additions to the Bob Marshall/Scapegoat Wilderness.
Other significant wilderness designations include 48,545 acres as the Ten Lakes Wilderness, 144,615 acres as the Tuchuck Wilderness in the Whitefish Range, and 125,795 acres as the Badger-Two Medicine Wilderness in the Rocky Mountain Front south of Glacier.
Scarface Mt. Badger Two Medicine, MT. Photo by George Wuerthner
NREPA would also establish the Flathead National Preserve Study Area (285,078 acres) adjacent to Glacier National Park.
GREATER CABINET-YAAK-SELKIRK ECOSYSTEM
This ecosystem encompasses the Cabinet Mountains and Yaak drainage in western Montana, as well as the Selkirk Mountains of northern Idaho. This area features dense forests that are more representative of the west coast, characterized by western white pine, western red cedar, mountain hemlock, and western hemlock.
This is timber country, so the area is far more fragmented due to logging than other parts of the Northern Rockies. Therefore, most of the roadless areas are small relics, but they are nevertheless critical lands to protect.
There is a small population of grizzly bears in the area.
The area once supported woodland caribou and could potentially do so again.
Among the larger roadless areas that NREPA will protect are an additional 104,770 acres for the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness and several new wilderness areas, including an 88,000-acre Scotchman Peak Wilderness and a 98,701-acre Selkirk Crest Wilderness.
GREATER HELLS CANYON-WALLOWA ECOSYSTEM
The Snake River has carved a dramatic canyon over 8,000 feet deep along the Idaho-Oregon border. The Wallowa Mountains rise from the depths of the canyon to peaks that rise to almost 10,000 feet.
The significant elevational range provides a terrific habitat for elk, and the Hells Canyon area supports one of the largest elk herds in the country.
Many of the rivers in this region sustain salmon and steelhead runs.
Old growth ponderosa on pine on the edge of Joseph Canyon proposed wilderness. Photo by George Wuerthner
NREPA would create a Hells Canyon-Chief Joseph National Park & Preserve Study Area (1,439,444 acres) along the Oregon/Idaho border. Preserve status prohibits developments that impair natural and scenic values, while traditional uses, such as hunting, fishing, and gathering firewood, as well as specific motorized uses, are permitted to continue.
Among the more significant wildlands to be preserved as wilderness are 364,895 acres added to the Hells Canyon Wilderness and another 112,143 acres to be added to the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
The new Wilderness would include the 69,102-acre Walla Walla River Wilderness and the 40,468-acre Joseph Canyon Wilderness.
ISLANDS IN THE SKY
Under the heading “Islands in the Sky” are random proposed wilderness areas scattered throughout the bioregion.
These include 145,319 acres, identified as North Fork John Day Additions, and 190,790 acres in the Big Horn Mountains as “Cloud Peak Additions”.
Approximately 65,311 acres in the Pryor Mountains, identified as Lost Water Canyon, plus 194,009 acres as additions to the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness.
There are 249,906 acres in the West Pioneers proposed Wilderness, 161,727 acres as the East Pioneers Wilderness, 220,756 acres as West Big Hole Wilderness, 307,198 acres as the Italian Peaks Wilderness, and 312,292 acres as Lemhi Range Wilderness.
NREPA is the most ambitious, but also the most ecological legislation ever introduced into Congress. It deserves Congressional support. Please write your legislators and ask them to co-support NREPA. Write a letter of support and submit to your local newspaper. The grizzly bear, the salmon, the wolves, the sage grouse, the bighorn, and the elk will be thankful you did.
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