Our Story

Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance is a community-based, grassroots conservation organization located on the Blackfeet Nation in East Glacier Park, MT.
Our Mission
Since our founding in 1984, we have inspired and mobilized local communities along with people from across Montana, the U.S. and elsewhere to stand up for the irreplaceable wild lands, wildlife and cultural resources of the Badger-Two Medicine and surrounding areas in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem and to do so in a way that honors Tribal Nation’s sovereignty, knowledge, and way of life. Today, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance is the only organization solely dedicated to protecting the wild grandeur of this ecologically and culturally significant region of Montana.

Our History

Get to know Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance

1984 - 1993: Galvanizing Early Opposition to Energy Development

When the US Forest Service unveiled imminent plans to drill for oil and gas in the Badger-Two Medicine at a public meeting in East Glacier Park in November 1984, we knew we had to act quickly. These national forest lands were where we hiked, rode horses, hunted elk, gathered berries, or practiced ceremony. We could not let these lands be destroyed. So shortly thereafter, a small group of Blackfeet tribal members and non-member residents of the Reservation formed the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance.  We knew we faced long odds as we were up against the oil industry and the federal government, but we knew that if we didn’t try, no one else would.
Historical photo of a sign protesting oil and gas drilling in Blackfeet Wilderness

A locally-famous sign opposing oil and gas development in the area commonly called the Badger-Two Medicine after its two principal watersheds, hangs on co-founder Ed DesRosier’s fence along the highway in East Glacier Park. Throughout the ‘80s and early ‘90s, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance organized community meetings, filed appeals, and built a network of allies that successfully delayed development activities.

Historical photo of a sign protesting oil and gas drilling in Blackfeet Wilderness
Chester-based lawyer Don Marble, center, pictured with his wife Harriet and Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance co-founder Lou Bruno in 1985

Chester-based lawyer Don Marble, center, pictured with his wife Harriet and Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance co-founder Lou Bruno in 1985, masterminded our successful appeals of two Forest Service-issued drilling permits, which forced the agency to undertake more rigorous environmental analysis. These appeals bought crucial time to build stronger public and political opposition to oil and gas development in the area.

Chester-based lawyer Don Marble, center, pictured with his wife Harriet and Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance co-founder Lou Bruno in 1985
Protesters in Missoula demonstrating against oil and gas development in the Badger-Two Medicine

Protesters demonstrate against oil and gas development in the Badger-Two Medicine at a rally in Missoula, Montana organized by the Badger Chapter of the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance. Student activism was crucial to rising public opposition to drilling these ecologically vital and culturally significant wildlands, as well as to bringing the voices and concerns of tribal traditionalists into the public sphere.

Protesters in Missoula demonstrating against oil and gas development in the Badger-Two Medicine

1993 - 2002: Administrative Review and Organizational Interlude

In response to a lawsuit brought by the National Wildlife Federation in 1993, the Forest Service admitted it had inadequately assessed the impacts to Blackfeet cultural uses from oil and gas development in its latest approval of a drilling permit at Hall Creek. The Department of Interior then placed a moratorium on any oil and gas development while the Forest Service undertook additional analysis. During this prolonged period of administrative review, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance became fairly inactive except to monitor agency progress or to write occasional letters to officials on other land and wildlife conservation issues in the Crown ecosystem.
Aerial photo of the Lubec Hills in the Rocky Mountains

During the 1990s, the struggle to stop oil and gas development largely shifted to lands south of the Badger-Two Medicine along the Rocky Mountain Front. More powerful national conservation groups like The Wilderness Society joined the battle during this time in support of local efforts like ours to prevent oil and gas development and to secure stronger legal protections for cherished public lands and wildlife, vital partnerships that continue to this day.

Aerial photo of the Lubec Hills in the Rocky Mountains

2003 - 2012: Travel Planning and Organizational Re-Birth

After the Forest Service announced plans to develop a new travel plan for the Badger-Two Medicine, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance re-organized to try to close the area to motorized travel, a goal we ultimately achieved! During this era, we aided various efforts to stop oil and gas exploration or retire leases up and down the Front. We improved management of the Badger-Two Medicine by pushing the Forest Service to address illegal ATV use, to restore land and trails damaged by motorized abuse, to drop proposed post-fire salvage logging, and to fight weeds. And we initiated exploratory visioning with tribal and conservation allies about permanent protection of the Badger-Two Medicine as part of the development of the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, which protected 275,000 acres of the Front in 2014, although not the Badger-Two Medicine due to lack of support from the Blackfeet tribal council.
Co-founder Lou Bruno kissing a sign prohibiting motorized vehicles

Co-founder Lou Bruno celebrates the 2009 Travel Plan which closed the Badger-Two Medicine to motorized travel to protect Blackfeet cultural uses, fish and wildlife habitat, and traditional recreation, a decision requested by the Blackfeet Tribe, and conservation groups like us.  When motorized advocates sued, we intervened to successfully defend the decision. Consequently, the Badger-Two Medicine is one of the rare places that is wilder today than at any point in recent history.

Co-founder Lou Bruno kissing a sign prohibiting motorized vehicles
GTMA supporters gathered at the first annual Fall Gathering event

In 2010, we organized our first Fall Gathering to celebrate the Badger-Two Medicine and to energize grassroots support for its protection. Participants enjoyed hikes into the area, a homemade chili dinner, a remembrance ceremony for the late Don Marble, and live music by Jack Gladstone and Kendall Flint. The Fall Gathering has since grown to become a highly-anticipated annual affair both locally and amongst Montana’s conservation community.

GTMA supporters gathered at the first annual Fall Gathering event
A mountain goat grazing

In 2008, the Blackfeet Tribe leased the western-third of the Reservation to Anschutz Exploration Corp. to explore for oil and gas by hydraulic fracturing. When tribal community members, mostly women, voiced concern about impacts to clean water, human health, and other living beings, we joined with them to help stop the “Frack Attack.”  The limited exploratory drilling that did occur failed to produce and Anschutz relinquished the leases.

A mountain goat grazing

2013 - 2018: Tribal-led Campaign to Cancel the Leases

The effort to eliminate the remaining oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine picked up steam after Solenex, one of the remaining leaseholders, filed suit in 2013 to force the federal government to lift the lease suspension and permit exploratory drilling. Along with Blackfeet tribal leaders, and state and national conservation groups, we intervened in the lawsuit to reinforce the unacceptable ecological and cultural impacts from drilling. Our coalition organized an extensive public pressure campaign to retire the leases. We also worked to secure stronger administrative safeguards for the area’s ecological and cultural integrity, along with a greater role for the Blackfeet Nation in its stewardship, through an expanded Traditional Cultural District determination and the planning process for a revised Forest Plan for the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.
Screening of Our Last Refuge documentary

The documentary film, Our Last Refuge, which we helped produce, explained the profound significance of the Badger-Two Medicine to Blackfeet people’s cultural identity and practice, both of which were gravely threatened by the proposed oil and gas drilling. The film tour helped galvanize political support for elimination of the remaining leases.

Screening of Our Last Refuge documentary
Devon Energy voluntarily signing papers relinquishing drilling rights

Devon Energy voluntarily relinquished its 15 leases, including a permit to drill on Goat Mountain in the heart of the Badger-Two Medicine, in response to our campaign saying “It was the right thing to do,” in November 2016. The retirement set the stage for Interior Secretary Sally Jewel to cancel the final leases in the area.

Devon Energy voluntarily signing papers relinquishing drilling rights
Grizzly bear wandering through a meadow

Protecting wildlife, like grizzly bears, and their habitat has been a key priority since our inception. The science-based recovery and management of the great bear became an even-more prominent focus of our advocacy work during this era. Our support for the great bear, symbol of the wild, is evident in the animal’s prominent inclusion in our logo.

Grizzly bear wandering through a meadow

2019 - Today: A New Era Begins

Since our founding, a hardy group of highly dedicated volunteer board members largely ran the day-to-day operations of Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance. That began to change in January, 2019 when we hired our first long-term employee, Peter Metcalf, as executive director. The addition of staff empowered Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance to greater leadership of the Badger-Two Medicine campaign, including the legal defense of the Obama-era oil and gas lease cancellations, sustained engagement in the forest plan revision process, and an ultimately unsuccessful legislative effort to designate the Badger-Two Medicine a cultural heritage area. We also worked to address land and wildlife conservation challenges across the northeastern Crown, to strengthen our support of Blackfeet-led initiatives, and to expand our stewardship, education, and recreational programs in the community.
GTMA supporters burning oil stakes in celebration

Friends and members of the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance exuberantly celebrated the retirement of the last oil and gas lease in the Badger-Two Medicine in September 2023, marking the culmination of a tenacious 39-year campaign. The Interior Department originally canceled the lease in 2016, but the leaseholder, Solenex, sued, leading to a protracted court battle that resulted in a negotiated settlement to retire the leasehold.

GTMA supporters burning oil stakes in celebration
Aerial photo of the Badger-Two Medicine

The Badger-Two Medicine Protection Act of 2020, a bill collaboratively developed by Blackfeet leaders and conservation allies, would have permanently protected the wild, ecological conditions, treaty rights, and cultural uses of the area under a shared stewardship arrangement between the Blackfeet Nation and US Forest Service. Although the bill died, it laid important groundwork toward a shared vision for the future of these public lands.

Aerial photo of the Badger-Two Medicine
Blackfeet youth sitting around a fire pit

Blackfeet high school students participate in a camas bake led by Mariah Gladstone, founder of IndigiKitchen, on a campout in the Badger-Two Medicine. Working with community partners to provide kids positive, healthy outdoor experiences, to learn cultural knowledge or science, or to gain new skills is a leading priority of ours.

Blackfeet youth sitting around a fire pit

Looking Ahead

There is much good work to do to keep the northeastern Crown of the Continent ecosystem wild and intact, a place where both people and nature can flourish. As we embark on our fifth decade, we are on a mission:
  • to secure permanent protection for the Badger-Two Medicine and other deserving places in the northeastern Crown, 
  • to recover and conserve healthy native fish, wildlife and plant populations,
  • to maintain healthy and connected public lands and headwater streams,
  • to support tribal-led efforts to strengthen Indigenous stewardship of ancestral lands or shared resources,
  • to foster responsible and respectful recreational use and management of public lands, and
  • to cultivate a more diverse and engaged grassroots community of conservation advocates and stewards, along with the next generation of leaders.

Join us!

There’s still much more to do to ensure wildlands and wildlife, along with human communities and Native cultures can flourish in this beautiful region of Montana. We hope you’ll join us!
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