161 Acres Added to Custer-Gallatin National Forest Near Yellowstone

More than 150 acres near Yellowstone National Park’s northern border have been protected from mining and development.

The Bozeman-based conservation group Greater Yellowstone Coalition, nationwide nonprofit The Conservation Fund, and the U.S. Forest Service have partnered to add 161 acres to the Custer-Gallatin National Forest.

“It’s a really high-value area to conserve for wildlife, clean water, and for its potential impacts on the park,” Scott Christensen, GYC’s executive director, said.

The acquisition is the most recent development in a decade-long battle between locals, conservation groups and the Crevice Mining Group, LLC, which aimed to operate a small-scale gold mine on Crevice Mountain, just north of the park.

While GYC raised $6.25 million and purchased the mineral rights, leases, and claims on more than 1,598 acres held by the Crevice Mining Group in 2023, privately owned inholdings and mineral rights that the coalition said posed development threats in the area remained.

The recent addition to the Custer-Gallatin National Forest consists of 148 acres initially purchased by The Conservation Fund and 13 acres acquired by GYC. The U.S. Forest Service bought the parcels from the conservation groups for about $2 million.

The funding was secured from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a permanent pool established through the Great American Outdoors Act.

“The landowners on the mountain were working on a faster timeline than the Forest Service,” Christensen said. “In order to preserve the ability to get these lands and mineral rights into public ownership, we had to move more quickly and work with the landowners directly to purchase them and wait for the Forest Service to be in a position to acquire them.”

The Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act establishes a mining ban on private lands moved into public ownership, effectively conserving the Crevice Mountain parcels from any development, Christensen said.

In addition to adding 161 acres to the national forest, 208 acres of mineral rights secured through the 2023 Crevice Mining Group sale will be transferred to the Forest Service.

“It was a great partnership between the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The Conservation Fund, and the Forest Service to be able to get these deals done,” Christensen said.

Landowners also played a pivotal role in ensuring the conservation of Crevice Mountain, he added.

“We’ve been working with a lot of these people for a long time,” Christensen said. “For the most part, we have relationships with these people. They know us, and we just want to keep open communication with them to ensure they know we are willing purchasers looking for opportunities to further protect land along the boundary of Yellowstone.”

GYC is still in active conversations with owners of private lands and mineral rights in the area.

“Getting these deals done really represents a great win-win both for wildlife and the local community,” Christensen said. “When there’s new public land on the boundary of Yellowstone, it’s a great win for everyone.”