Badger Two-Medicine Area

Conservation Wilderness Proposal: 128,000 acres

The vast grasslands of the northern prairies end abruptly in the limestone escarpments of the Rocky Mountain Front. South of Glacier National Park, the rising sun illuminates peaks with legendary Blackfeet names like Morning Star, Poia, Little Plume, Running Crane, Spotted Eagle, Kiyo, Scarface, Elkcalf Bullshoe and Curly Bear. This is the Badger-Two Medicine, coveted by multinational oil companies, vigorously defended by those who respect this wild land. The Badger-Two Medicine is named for two crystalline rivers that begin in snowfields and rivulets along thirty miles of the Continental Divide; Badger Creek and the Two Medicine River.

With Glacier Park on its northern borders, the Great Bear and Bob Marshall Wilderness areas on the west and south, respectively, the Badger-Two Medicine roadless area is the biological centerpiece of a vast wilderness ecosystem. Grizzly bears, elk, gray wolves, mountain goats, moose, harlequin ducks and wolverines cross frequently between protected habitats of park and wilderness and the unprotected lands of the Badger-Two Medicine.

Boundary Rationale

Protection of the Badger-Two Medicine area would preserve the continuity of wildlife habitat between Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall wilderness complex as well as traditional Blackfeet religious and cultural uses of this area. Boundaries include headwaters areas along the Continental Divide, lower elevation riparian areas and key wildlife ranges and travel corridors. Potential Conflicts

Timber: There are no suitable timber lands within the proposal.

Minerals: In 1981, the Lewis and Clark National Forest and Bureau of Land Management sold oil and gas leases covering the Badger-Two Medicine. Two of the primary lease-holders, Chevron and Fina, have applied for permits to drill for oil and natural gas in the Hall Creek and Goat Mountain areas.

Off-Road Vehicles: Snowmobile use of riparian corridors such as the Two Medicine River adds unnecessary stress to wintering elk, moose and mountain goats that depend on these areas for survival.

Blackfeet Treaty Rights: The Badger-Two Medicine is covered by the treaty of 1896 which gives Blackfeet tribal members the right to hunt and fish in any portion of the area in accordance with state law and cut wood for domestic use. Blackfeet treaty claims as well as spiritual and cultural uses of the Badger-Two Medicine are pre- existing rights which would continue under wilderness management. Traditional Uses Blackfeet tribal members have used the Badger-Two Medicine and it's waters for hundreds of years for vision quests and for other religious and cultural purposes. In addition, hiking, fishing, horse packing, camping, hunting, cross-country skiing, nature and wilderness studies are very popular in this roadless area.

Legislative History

Portions of the Badger-Two Medicine were first proposed for wilderness designation in 1976. In 1992, both House-passed and Senate-passed wilderness bills proposed a 116,000-acre wilderness study area. Three attempts by the federal government to issue oil drilling permits have been successfully challenged. In April 1993, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced a temporary withdrawal of the area from oil drilling after receiving over 13,000 signatures on petitions urging protection of the Badger-Two Medicine. This area has also been proposed as a Wilderness Study Area in H.R. 2473 (1994), which passed the House of Representatives, and in HR 2638 (NREPA). In 1995, it is again proposed for wilderness study in H.R. 2799, and is again included in NREPA.

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