Stand · Find your defenders

Who’s defending Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area?

Wilderness area in Montana, 81,000 acres, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, designated in 1977.

The defenders

Nobody has claimed this fight yet

No group in our directory carries Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area in its work yet. That is not the same as nobody fighting: if you know the group that belongs here, tell us and our editors will look at it.

18 more work nearby but are not tied to Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area on the record

The situation

What’s happening to Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area

Eighty-one thousand acres of wild backcountry in the Little Belt Mountains, where westslope cutthroat trout hold in cold water and elk roam unroaded ridges. The Middle Fork Judith has been a wilderness study area since 1977, protected by a promise that Congress would decide its fate. Now Senator Daines’ Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act would strip that protection with federal agency backing, even though 75 percent of Montana voters want WSAs to stay protected. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ordered it reported on March 4, 2026.

  1. 1977Designated as wilderness study area under Metcalf bill
  2. 2025Daines introduces Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act (S.3527)
  3. 2026Federal agencies testify in support of WSA release
Daines bill S.3527 would strip WSA protection

Source: Montana Free Press · February 12, 2026

No public comment window is open on Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area 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.

Your move

How to stand for Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area

Build my lineup around Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.

Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area has defenders. It needs more.

The work is theirs. The backing is yours.

Sources and methodThe situation, timeline, and threats: the MTJP threatened-lands record for Middle Fork Judith Wilderness Study Area, with per-item sources. 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 2026-10-05. Nothing on this page is pay-to-play.