Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 6788 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 6788 To release from wilderness study area designation certain land in the State of Montana, to improve the management of that land, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 17, 2025 Mr. Downing introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To release from wilderness study area designation certain land in the State of Montana, to improve the management of that land, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Montana Sportsmen Conservation Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds that-- (1) under the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-150; 91 Stat. 1243), 9 wilderness study areas comprising a total of 973,000 acres of land in the State of Montana were set aside for the Secretary of Agriculture to evaluate the suitability of the wilderness study areas for designation as wilderness, in accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), with the evaluation to be completed not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-150; 91 Stat. 1243); (2) between 1979 and 1986, the Chief of the Forest Service-- (A) completed the studies of the 9 wilderness study areas referred to in paragraph (1); and (B) based on those studies, determined that 608,700 acres of the original 973,000 acres designated as wilderness study areas by the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-150; 91 Stat. 1243) were unsuitable for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, incl