Executive Director Peter Metcalf joined Blackfeet leader Terry Tatsey to explore the ecological and cultural significance of the Badger-Two Medicine and why retaining the Roadless Rule is critical to protecting this cherished landscape and others like it.
For the past 25 years, the Roadless Rule has provided critical limitations on new road building and logging in the Badger-Two Medicine, as well as on tens of millions of acres of other precious backcountry areas on national forest lands across this country.
Now this highly-effective conservation policy is in danger of being rescinded by the Trump Administration.
Peter Metcalf, executive director of Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, and Terry Tatsey, Blackfeet tribal leader and close friend of the organization, recently joined the Wild Idea podcast to talk about the Rule and its significance to protecting the Badger-Two Medicine, and places like it.
In this conversation, Terry shares his lifelong connection to the Badger-Two Medicine, and the teachings he received from his grandparents and their elders that he seeks to pass on to his grandchildren and other youth in the Blackfeet community today. Peter explores the importance of the place for fish and wildlife, to the local community for hunting, fishing and backcountry recreation, and why the Roadless Rule is an important policy to maintain the landscape conditions where both wildlife and cultural traditions can thrive.
Please listen and let us know what you think!
Our conversion is just one in a whole series of fantastic conversations that explore some of our country’s incredibly special roadless areas from Appalachia to Alaska that could be affected if the Roadless Rule is rescinded. All are definitely worth a listen before the draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed rescission is released, likely in March.
And if you haven’t already subscribed to the Wild Idea, we strongly encourage you to do so. The podcast features insightful and engaging conversations with the likes of Dr. Martin Nie of the University of Montana (and former Fall Gathering speaker), Ben Goldfarb, author of the book Crossings (a 2024 Two Medicine Voices speaker), and Martha Williams, former director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (and 2025 Fall Gathering speaker!), as well as many other leaders, practitioners, and scholars about the messy, evolving relationship between people and wild places and the implications for public lands conservation. The conversations are fascinating, fun and well worth a listen.
Also, the short weekly news companion, the Wild Line, is a great way to keep up on the latest policy developments out of Washington D.C. or elsewhere affecting public lands and wildlife conservation. Highly recommended.
The Wild Idea is co-hosted by Bill Hodge, former executive director of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation and state director for The Wilderness Society.
All these episodes are available on the Wild Idea website or wherever you subscribe to podcasts.