New film highlights power of community-led conservation

The Scapegoat Wilderness in Northwest Montana was the first community-driven wilderness campaign in the country. As the community now celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Scapegoat Wilderness, the residents of Lincoln are once again advocating to protect the nearby public lands.

“We rely big time on these public lands for our tourism and recreation and if we don’t have it, it’s gonna be a ghost town." 

Historically a predominantly extractive community, Lincoln in recent decades has felt the economic effects of boom-and-bust cycles in the mining and timber industries. The community—surrounded largely by forests in the Crown of the Continent landscape—is tied to its public lands for its livelihood and prosperity. 

The Lincoln community realized it was time to re-think its public-land use and ensure that management was working for the community and for all users long-term. Lincoln residents took the prosperity of its community into their own hands and collaboratively developed a land management proposal that expands the Scapegoat Wilderness, improves forest health, expands outdoor recreation and conserves key areas for the health of the community and wildlife for the next half-century.

“The Lincoln Proposal is huge, because people are working together.”

The film “Scapegoat” is a story of heartache and triumphs in the establishment of the Scapegoat Wilderness 50 years ago, the strength and determination of those advocating to expand the Scapegoat Wilderness today, and the power that one small community can have when they work together towards a better tomorrow.  

“I hope that this community remains a community that is rooted in loving the area and taking care of it. We, as locals, have to put our best foot forward and are examples, together, of how we live with the natural beauty and wild things.”

Learn more about the Lincoln Prosperity Proposal at https://lincolnprosperity.com/