Montana Headwaters Legacy Act will head to Senate floor without Madison River after committee vote
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
It’s a first for the river protection bill that was introduced in Congress almost four years ago: On Nov. 19, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources voted 10-9 to move the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act to the full Senate floor. Supporters hope the bill can be included in an end-of-year public lands package with other legislation across the U.S.
The bill was first introduced in 2020 by Sen. Jon Tester, Montana’s three-term senator whose 18 consecutive years in Washington are coming to a close. If successful, the MHLA would protect and preserve 326 miles of Montana rivers under the National Wild and Scenic River System. Montanans for Healthy Rivers, a group of residents, outfitters, business owners and conservationists celebrated the bill’s progress to becoming a law.
On Tuesday afternoon, Gallatin River Task Force Chief Executive and Science Officer Kristin Gardner expressed excitement for the next phase of the MHLA in the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s super exciting news for us,” Gardner told EBS on the phone. “It’s the farthest the bill has gotten along in the legislative process, so that’s really exciting—we’ve been working on this for over 14 years.”
She said that Montanans for Healthy Rivers will continue to work to get Tester’s fellow Montana senatorin support of the bill.
During the Tuesday Senate committee hearing, Sen. Steve Daines expressed opposition. He cited that of the eight counties containing rivers impacted by the bill, four county commissioners expressed opposition. “They’re a very important voice in this process and we need to keep working with them to get broader supports and that’s why I’m opposed at this moment,” Daines said.
Outside of county commissioners’ concerns, Daines said in the hearing that Wild and Scenic designations in the past have hindered or delayed road work, aquatic restoration projects, grazing and fuel management projects. Charles Drimal, deputy director of conservation with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition responded to Daines’ testimony on a phone call with EBS after the hearing.
“In Montana, we have had a Wild and Scenic River on the Missouri River Breaks since 1976,” Drimal said. “There is extensive grazing.”
Drimal also described active timber projects on the North Fork of the Flathead River, and recreational road corridors within the Wild and Scenic areas that have the ability to be maintained, repaired and rebuilt.
“We think that there is value in having scrutiny and protecting some of our most cherished and highly functional and healthy rivers in our region,” Drimal said.
In the past, the Montana delegation has shown unity in protecting Montana waterways. In 2018, segments of East Rosebud Creek near Red Lodge were added to the Wild and Scenic River System. In the hearing, Sen. Daines described some progress he saw in the MHLA avoiding potential conflicts with NorthWestern Energy, a utility company that serves Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska and operates two dams on the Madison River.
Previously, clauses were added to the MHLA to accommodate NWE operations on the Madison. The Hebgen Dam operates as a storage reservoir and the Madison Dam operates as a hydroelectric dam producing power.
In the Tuesday committee markup and hearing, the Madison River was excluded from the MHLA, which formerly included more than 50 Madison River miles. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act states that under federal law, rivers as well as their immediate environments will be protected and preserved in “free-flowing condition … for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.”
The Madison and Hebgen dams maintain river flow, and maintain fisheries and recreation activities along the river, according to Jo Dee Black, public relations specialist with NWE.
“The Act’s Wild and Scenic designation of segments of the Madison River could adversely affect NorthWestern Energy’s existing hydroelectric operations at Hebgen and Madison Dams,” Black wrote in an email to EBS. “This designation could limit NorthWestern Energy’s ability to maintain, repair and upgrade our existing facilities.”
In an effort to include the Madison in the bill, Zack Waterman, Northern Rockies conservation director with American Rivers and Charles Drimal with GYC, had worked to add clauses accommodating NWE operations.
In language introduced in 2023 by Tester, the bill noted that both dams will not be prohibited, preempted or abridged as a current or future federally licensed hydroelectric generation project. With this, any future licensing and development of hydroelectric generation at the dams would not be halted or redirected. Regarding the dam’s river flow maintenance, the amendments stated that the Wild and Scenic designation in this particular case would not affect the operation of flow release or impose any release requirements.
But Scott Bosse, Northern Rockies regional director for American Rivers, explained that an agreement on the amendments failed. “It’s really unfortunate,” Bosse told EBS on the phone. “We bent over backwards to accommodate … And that’s just the way that we, Montanans for Healthy Rivers, have been for the last 14 years, is like when various parties, whether it’s NorthWestern Energy, or a landowner, or a rancher—when they have concerns, we try and work with them to address their concerns.”
NorthWestern Energy was not able to provide comment on this matter ahead of this story’s publication.
Despite the change, Bosse says that collective motivation to get the MHLA written into law is strong. “We’re all committed to getting this across the finish line. And you know, it might have to get a haircut,” Bosse said. In 2023 research from the University of Montana, 83% of Montana voters in the study reported supporting the bill, and 59% expressed strong support.
Nearby waterways like the 39-mile segment of the Gallatin River and the approximate six-mile segment of Hyalite Creek remain included in the 326 river miles that would receive National Wild and Scenic River System protection if the bill is successful.
“You know, this maybe happens once or twice a decade,” said Zack Waterman with American Rivers. In February 2019, the federal government passed a broad collection of bills in a public lands package. Five years later, this could be MHLA’s chance.
“I think anyone who cares about rivers in Montana should be super excited by that opportunity,” Waterman said.
