S. 3527 would direct the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service to modify the land management of three wilderness study areas: the Middle Fork Judith, Hoodoo Mountain, and Wales Creek Wilderness Study Areas in Montana. The bill would release the parcels from their current status as wilderness study areas and require the agencies to manage those areas under different management plans.
Under those alternate management plans, the agencies could approve additional recreational and grazing activities on the land. The fees collected for those activities are recorded on the budget as offsetting receipts (that is, as reductions in direct spending). Using information from the agencies, CBO estimates that any increase in receipts would be insignificant over the 2026-2036 period.
CBO also estimates that the administrative costs to implement the bill would be insignificant over the 2026-2031 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Emma Uebelhor. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
