Jim Kauffman stream fishing-800
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Congressional Review Act Creates Uncertain Future for Public Land Management
TRCP urges Congress to restore certainty for public land users and ensure the BLM can continue managing their lands responsibly and effectively into the future
Congress has voted to nullify three Bureau of Land Management resource management plans—the Central Yukon (Alaska), Miles City (Mont.), and North Dakota plans—through the Congressional Review Act. Once these Congressional resolutions of disapproval are signed by the President, the land management plans will be treated as if they were never issued, reverting management to outdated plans (some decades old) that don’t reflect today’s realities.
This is the first time the Congressional Review Act has been used on land management plans, setting a troubling precedent. Unlike typical agency regulations, these plans guide all activities in a BLM field office and are developed over many years with public input. Their nullification raises serious questions about the agency’s ability to update and modernize management in these planning areas in the future.
The Congressional Review Act prohibits the BLM from issuing new plans that are in “substantially the same form” as those that have been disapproved. This sets a vague standard that could make it difficult, or even impossible, for the agency to update these three management plans in the future without specific authorization from Congress. For the North Dakota RMP and Central Yukon RMP in particular, the previous plans that the BLM will revert to are almost 40 years old. This Congressional action will make it more difficult for the BLM to adapt these plans to changing conditions and local needs in the future.
The uncertainty these votes create extends beyond the three specific planning areas. Roughly 166 million acres of BLM lands are managed by plans that were approved since the Congressional Review Act was passed in 1996, which potentially jeopardizes the validity of those plans and the activities they authorize. This lack of clarity affects all authorized uses in a BLM field office, including oil and natural gas leases and permits to drill, mining operations, grazing permits, transmission line development, off-road vehicle use, hunting, fishing, and outfitter operations, and special recreation permits.
TRCP urges Congress to resolve this uncertainty in a bipartisan manner that provides clarity for public land users and makes it easier, not harder, for the BLM to steward our public lands into the future.
Learn more about TRCP’s commitment to public lands HERE.
Related: Congressional Review Act Risks Long-Term Dysfunction of Public Land Management
Flying for the Future of the Lolo
TRCP’s Montana field manager shares a bird’s-eye view of the Lolo National Forest with diverse stakeholders
As our small group boarded the single-prop, six-seater plane at the Missoula airport, wildfire smoke hung low over the airfield casting a hazy veil across the valley. Still, we hoped for a clear view of the Lolo National Forest.
This was the first of two morning aerial tours organized by TRCP in partnership with EcoFlight, a nonprofit based in Aspen, Colorado. EcoFlight’s mission is to use small aircraft to provide a powerful aerial perspective of public lands, watersheds, and places communities value across the West. On this flight, our focus was the Lolo National Forest, which is currently undergoing a land-use management plan revision. The decisions made in this process will ripple across western Montana, affecting hunters, anglers, and everyone who values, recreates, and makes their living on this incredible swath of public land.
As we rolled onto one of MSO’s massive runways, our headsets crackled to life and conversations began. I was struck by the diversity of perspectives onboard. We had county commissioners, a wildlife biologist, two foresters, and an employee from a foundation that has been heavily involved in wildlife highway crossings in Montana and the West. Each person brought valuable insight to the discussion, and I felt fortunate that such a thoughtful group had been assembled.
Once airborne, we excitedly pointed out familiar landmarks and places we’ve hunted, fished, logged, and camped. We saw areas used for cattle grazing, recreation, and big game winter range. From above, it was easy to recognize the many uses and interests the Forest supports, along with the thousands of local jobs the forest supports. We also talked about the growing pressures facing the Lolo, including increased recreation, rapid development in the wildland-urban interface, and the fragmentation of critical winter habitat for wildlife.
Our flight path followed the Clark Fork River to Sixmile Creek, a key wildlife crossing site along I-90. From there, we flew over Fish Creek, the Petty-Sawmill commercial timber project, and the backcountry areas of Cache Creek, Burdette Creek, and Garden Point. As we traced Lolo Creek back to the Bitterroot Valley, we saw examples of multi-use management including logging, fire scars, mining activity, and popular trailheads used for berry picking and fall hunting. Near the town of Lolo, we observed a well-known wildlife corridor between the Sapphire and Bitterroot Mountains. Finally, we ended our flight over Marshall and Woody Mountains, where recreation and wildlife habitat overlapped, each contributing to the broader landscape.
From the air, it was clear just how ecologically vital and culturally significant these landscapes are. We saw big game winter range, managed forests, and coldwater fisheries that anchor Montana’s outdoor and stewardship traditions. We agreed that the revised forest plan must strike a balance: conserve habitat connectivity and public access while also supporting sustainable forest management. A wildlife underpass at Sixmile could reduce vehicle collisions and conserve a known migration route that links the Glacier-Crown of the Continent ecosystem in the north with the Selway, the Frank Church, and the Greater Yellowstone to the south. The aerial perspective made it clear how interconnected these areas are and how thoughtful planning can conserve them for generations to come.
Looking ahead, the Forest Service is expected to release the Draft Environmental Impact Statement in fall 2025, outlining proposed alternatives for the Lolo land-use management plan revision. Once released, the DEIS will kick off a formal public comment period, giving hunters, anglers, and all public land users a chance to weigh in on the future of this important landscape.
Stay tuned. We’ll share updates as soon as the comment period opens.
If you’re a hunter, angler, or anyone who values Montana’s public lands, this revision will shape how the Lolo is managed for decades to come. Let’s ensure the plan revision reflects the values we hold dear: thriving wildlife habitat and connectivity across the landscape, clean and cold water, and sustainable uses that support hunting, fishing, and our local economies.
Learn more about the Lolo National Forest HERE.
In the Arena: Brian Grossenbacher
TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.
Brian Grossenbacher
Hometown: Cedar City, UT
Occupation: Photographer
Conservation credentials: Traveling across America, and the world, Brian Grossenbacher has become one of the foremost hunting and fishing photographers in the business. His generous spirit results in passionate support of conservation organizations and issues where his talent for visual storytelling helps educate hunters and anglers.
Brian Grossenbacher, fly fishing guide turned professional photographer, has shot commercial campaigns for Yeti, Orvis, Simms, Costa, and Mossy Oak. He recently surpassed the 300th magazine cover milestone and regularly contributes to Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Anglers Journal, Covey Rise, Shooting Sportsman, and many other publications. Grossenbacher also provided the photographs to the book Trout written by Tom Rosenbauer, as well as The Orvis Guide to Upland Hunting written by Reid Bryant. His skill with a camera and commitment to conservation makes him an invaluable member of the outdoor community.
Here is his story.
TRCP: How were you introduced to hunting, fishing, and the outdoors? Who introduced you?
Brian Grossenbacher: My father and both grandfathers took me fishing every opportunity they had starting at an early age. My proudest childhood moment was catching a four-pound northern pike on my 5th birthday.
TRCP: Tell us about one of your most memorable outdoor adventures.
Brian Grossenbacher: I was fortunate enough to be on one of the exploratory trips to visit the Tsimane Tribe in Bolivia to fish for golden dorado. It took us four days to get there, and we landed on a dirt airstrip that wasn’t meant to be seen from the air.
We hired the Tsimane people to take us upriver in their dugout canoes, and ate what we caught, including 12 monkeys that were gutted, shorn, and slow cooked over the fire. There were jaguar tracks in our camp every morning and numerous cayman that kept a close eye when we rinsed off in the river at night. We didn’t have a satellite phone, just a handshake promise from the pilot that he would pick us up in two weeks.
The fishing was outstanding. The largest dorado we landed was 28 pounds, but there were plenty in the 10–15-pound class. Looking back on that trip, it is amazing that there were no injuries…a broken bone out there would have been a big deal. The Tsimane people were excellent hunters with handmade bows and carefully crafted arrows. One night, I watched two young men string up their bows and walk down to the river and within minutes they each had a fish that they fileted and roasted over the coals of our fire. In the amount of time it would take someone to microwave a bag of popcorn, these guys shot and killed two fish (at night without lights) and ate them without a second thought to their next-level predatory skills.
TRCP: If you could hunt or fish anywhere, where would it be and why?
Brian Grossenbacher: There are some isolated sections of the Clark Fork River in Montana that still feel very wild and remind me of fishing the Yellowstone River when I started guiding in the early 90’s.
TRCP: How does conservation help enhance your outdoor life?
Brian Grossenbacher: As a fly fishing guide and then photographer, I have been blessed to make my living in beautiful places, many of which have been protected through thoughtful acts of conservation. Unfortunately, many of the rivers that do not have conservation measures or proper setbacks have been affected by development with homes and manicured lawns built right down to the water’s edge impacting the valuable habitat the rivers used to provide.
TRCP: What are the major conservation challenges where you live?
Brian Grossenbacher: For the last three years, I have lived in southern Utah where water and drought are major concerns. The Colorado River system is overtaxed providing water for over 40 million people from numerous Tribal Nations, Arizona, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and two states in Mexico.
Water levels at Lake Powell are critically low and some models suggest that we could see dead pool levels as early as December 2026. Dead Pool is the elevation where the water is so low it can no longer pass through the dam’s infrastructure to the downstream Colorado River. The potential for reaching dead pool threatens the water supply and power for millions of people in the western US and Mexico, not to mention the renowned recreation of the Grand Canyon. That being said, local conservation can go a long way to helping this problem. The residents of Washington County, Utah’s hottest and driest region, historically used 302 gallons daily, twice as much water as the average American, although they have reduced this consumption in recent years. Ironically, Washington County continues to consider the construction of a 140-mile pipeline from Lake Powell. This project is estimated to cost $2.4 billion and would pump 28 billion gallons of water 2,000 feet uphill across 140 miles of desert to provide 160,000 residents in southwest Utah with more water.
TRCP: Why is it important to you to be involved in conservation?
Brian Grossenbacher: Why is it important to clean your gun or to sight in your bow or practice your cast? Conservation needs to be as important as maintaining our gear, sharpening our skills, and planning our trips. Simply put, if we lose the resource or access to it, then everything else is fluff. We as individuals must start taking personal responsibility for conservation. I don’t expect my neighbor to maintain my gear, so why would I expect them to protect my favorite river? It’s not enough to buy a license and assume you’ve done your part. Having a place to hunt or fish or hike and camp is a privilege not a right, and we need to do everything possible to protect that for the future.
TRCP: Why should conservation matter to the next generation of hunters and anglers?
Brian Grossenbacher: A lot can happen in a lifetime. We are only seven generations removed from the Lewis and Clark expedition and a time the entire western United States was wild. Today there are a lot of places you can’t throw a frisbee without hitting a strip mall or Starbucks.
Virtually everyone my age has a story about how they used to hunt or fish in a spot before the shopping center or neighborhood was built. If I have learned one thing, it’s that habitat destruction happens fast, and if the land is open and developable, someone will take it.
Roosevelt was three generations removed from Lewis and Clark and already the writing was on the wall. Without adequate conservation, our natural resources would quickly be in peril. Today those lands that he made into national forests and parks are starting to look like islands and habitat loss is widening the gap daily. If you want the opportunity to hunt and fish, then it is your responsibility to help conserve the very resources that offer that privilege. Otherwise, they will disappear or be sold to the highest bidder.
Photo credits: Brian Grossenbacher
The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.
Collaboration on the Prairie
Across the prairies, partnerships are proving that production and habitat can go hand in hand.
The new Cornell Lab of Ornithology video highlights how ranchers and conservation partners, like the Nature Conservancy and the North American Grouse Partnership, are working together to sustain rural communities and conserve iconic species like the lesser prairie-chicken.
At TRCP, we believe voluntary, incentive-based conservation, through tools like Farm Bill programs, is one of the most effective ways to ensure thriving landscapes, safeguard working lands, improve fish and wildlife habitat, and expand hunting and fishing opportunities. This story is a reminder that collaboration is the path forward for wildlife, water, and rural economies.
It’s time for Congress to make the Farm Bill a priority.
The Farm Bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation that Congress considers, supporting agriculture producers and helping to ensure families have food on the table. Within this bill are also vital conservation programs that strengthen habitat, improve water quality, and promote more sustainable landscapes – providing a lifeline for fish and wildlife.
It has been seven years since most Farm Bill programs were updated, and we are now nearly two years past the initial expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill. Congress has managed to limp these programs along by extending them for one year (twice), but once again, key Farm Bill programs expired on September 30, 2025.
Now is the time to act.
Top photo: Cornell Lab of Ornithology
HOW YOU CAN HELP
TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to further our commitment to conservation. $4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue our efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.
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