As usual, the 2025 version of the biennial Montana Legislature was a whirlwind. Over just three months, there were 4,495 bill draft requests and 1759 bills introduced, and quite a few of them contemplated the things we care about: public lands, wildlife, water and Indigenous rights.

GTMA commented on over a dozen bills and appeared in person to testify for the ones we thought were most important. With your help, we helped secure tens of millions of dollars for conservation and create Montana Indigenous Peoples Day.

In politics, legislative success also involves defeating bad bills, and there were some very bad ones indeed. We helped kill a resolution (HJ 24) that promoted the sell-off off of public lands, a resolution (SJ 14) that asked Congress to strip protections from millions of acres of Wilderness Study Areas and roadless areas (like the Badger-Two Medicine), and a bill (HB 258) to increase the indiscriminate slaughter of wolves.

Perhaps the biggest conservation achievement this session was the passage of HB 932 and HB 855. As GTMA Executive Director Peter Metcalf said during his testimony to the Senate, “It’s time we step up our game and start to make the necessary investments to make our roads safer for wildlife and people. Please join the more than 75% of western Montanans who support additional investment in wildlife crossings by voting yes on HB 932.” And they did!

HB 932 will invest around $32 million in recreational marijuana tax revenue into a new Habitat Legacy Account. These dollars will be invested in Montana state parks, trails, working lands, public access, and wildlife habitat over the next two years. Organizations like ours can apply for grants to support weed management and improve wildlife habitat on private and public lands.

Most notably from our perspective, HB 932 dedicated, for the first time ever, tax revenue to fund badly needed investments in wildlife accommodations, like crossing structures and exclusionary fences, along our highways. Montana, despite having the second highest rate of wildlife-vehicle collisions per capita in the nation, has lagged far-behind our western neighbors in making the necessary investments to improve wildlife’s ability to cross the road, reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, and keep people safe. Under the new funding allocation, 5% of the marijuana tax revenue will be deposited into a dedicated account for wildlife accommodations along our roadways.

HB 932 wasn’t the only win for wildlife connectivity. The legislature also passed HB 855 which created the “Big game and wildlife highway crossings and accommodations account” along with an eponymous license plate that will raise additional money. Together the two sources of revenue are expected to initially raise about $750,000 annually, money that can be directly granted or leveraged to secure federal funding. The lack of state funds has made it extremely difficult for the Department of Transportation, or Fish, Wildlife and Parks to compete for federal grants such as the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program which authorized $350 million for wildlife crossings projects, all of which required some amount of state match.

One important bill we supported that didn’t pass was SB 379, “an act to improve consultation between state agencies and tribal nations/governments.” This is important legislation that both fulfills obligations to sovereign tribal nations and improves state decision-making. “When tribal voices are part of the conversation early on,” wrote Browning Senator Susan Weber, the sponsor of the bill, “we avoid costly mistakes, build stronger policies, and find solutions that work on the ground.” If the sponsors re-introduce this bill in 2027, as they indicate they will, it will be one we want to help get passed.

Thanks to all our conservation partners who worked tirelessly during the state legislative session along with all of you who spoke up to support HB 932, HB 855 and the other conservation-minded legislation or to stop bad proposals that would have set us back decades. Montana has a wilder, more connected future because of our collective efforts.