STANDfor Public Landsby More Than Just Parks
Stand · Find your defenders

Who’s defending Bitterroot?

20 groups have it in their care

National forest in Montana, 1.6M acres, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, designated in 1897.

Likely to care

Groups likely to care about Bitterroot

These 2 groups are a guess from each group's stated mission and where it works, not a record of work on this fight. Give directly; nothing routes through us.

18 more work nearby but are not tied to Bitterroot on the record

On the ground in Montana

Bob Marshall Wilderness FoundationThey work only in MontanaFriends GroupMontana Conservation CorpsThey work only in MontanaStewardshipMontana Land RelianceThey work only in MontanaLand TrustWhitefish Legacy PartnersThey work only in MontanaRecreationCuster Gallatin Working GroupThey work only in MontanaFriends GroupFive Valleys Land TrustThey work only in MontanaLand Trust

More ways in

Gallatin Valley Land TrustThey work only in MontanaLand TrustWild MontanaThey work only in MontanaGrassrootsGlacier InstituteThey work only in MontanaFriends GroupUpper Missouri Breaks AudubonThey work only in MontanaFriends GroupCottonwood Environmental Law CenterMontana is one of the 3 states they work inLegalVital Ground FoundationMontana is one of the 4 states they work inLand TrustPacific Northwest Trail AssociationMontana is one of the 3 states they work inTrailsSonoran InstituteMontana is one of the 4 states they work inCoalitionBonneville Environmental FoundationMontana is one of the 4 states they work inFoundationWestern Values ProjectBased in Helena, close to the groundWatchdogAdvocates for the WestWorking this regionLegalContinental Divide Trail CoalitionWorking this regionTrails

The situation

What’s happening to Bitterroot

Steep mountain walls rise from the Bitterroot River to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, where the northern Rockies begin in earnest. Post-fire salvage logging proposals treat wildfire as an excuse to clearcut. Now a Salt Lake City company wants to tunnel into Sheep Creek, a Bitterroot River headwater near Darby, to extract rare earth elements. Over 650 Ravalli County residents packed a commission meeting to oppose the mine. The Forest Service rescinded the initial plan on March 27, but the company is expected to submit a scaled-back proposal.

  1. 1897Established as forest reserve
  2. 2025US Critical Materials submits rare earth mining plan for Sheep Creek
  3. 2026Forest Service rescinds initial mining plan after public opposition
Rare earth mining proposed in Sheep Creek headwaters

Source: Bitterroot Star · March 27, 2026

Post-fire salvage logging proposals

Source: Montana Free Press

No public comment window is open on Bitterroot right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.

In the courts

The cases over this place

The dockets we track that name Bitterroot directly. Active first.

ClosedWildEarth Guardians v. Montana Snowmobile Ass’nNinth Circuit · filed 2012 · Docket ↗
ClosedBitterroot Ridge Runners Snowmobile Club v. U.S. Forest Serv.MTD · Docket ↗

Your move

How to stand for Bitterroot

GiveGive to Friends of the Bitterroot

Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.

Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representatives

A ready call script on Bitterroot, plus any comment window as it opens.

Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the map

Every threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.

Threatened Lands Map

Build my lineup around Bitterroot: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.

Bitterroot has defenders. It needs more.

The work is theirs. The backing is yours.

Give to Friends of the Bitterroot ↗Every place, state and species
Sources and methodThe situation, timeline, and threats: the MTJP threatened-lands record for Bitterroot, with per-item sources. Court cases: CourtListener dockets in the MTJP litigation database (2 naming this place). Which groups are on the record for this place: MTJP editors tie a group to a fight only with a source link they have read, one link at a time. A group without one is shown as likely to care, a guess from the federal court record and the group’s own mission and footprint. Org-reported figures are always labeled. Data verified as of 2026-10-03. Nothing on this page is pay-to-play.