Montana gets 213,000 acres of public lands and trails.
H.R. 10529 — A River Runs Through It Act · Filed by Ryan Zinke (R-MT) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill sets aside about 213,000 acres of federal land in Montana. It creates six areas to restore forests and cut wildfire risk. It makes four areas for biking and motorized use. It makes two areas for winter sports with snow vehicles. It makes four wild areas with about 130,000 acres total and two care areas. The bill lets grazing and hunting stay under new rules.
Who it affects
Montanans and visitors get more trails and public land for hiking, biking, and hunting. Communities get forests that are healthier and burn less. Mining and mineral firms lose the right to dig or drill on these lands.
One thing to notice
Three motorized trails skip the normal review that keeps rare animals safe. The bill expands a care area from an old law by about 18,000 acres. It does not say this clearly.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Sep 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 21, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- federal land — land owned by the U.S. government, not by states or private people.
- wild areas — public land where no roads, buildings, or machines are allowed.
- motorized — using engines or motors.
- care areas — land set aside to protect nature and wildlife.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (36,967 characters) on Sep 30, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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