We Went in Search of a Hidden Billionaire's Club Reshaping Public Lands
A controversial Montana land swap orchestrated by a secretive club for the mega-rich has come to symbolize the growing influence of wealthy private interests spreading across America's public lands.
Floodlight's Evan Simon goes in search of the Yellowstone Club, a mountain top retreat for the rich and famous that locals say is "gobbling up vast swaths of Montana." Members of the exclusive club include celebrities, tech titans, and top Trump administration officials - including the man in charge of most of the nation's public lands.
A nexus of political and economic power in the state, the club quietly played a key role in a controversial land swap in the remote Crazy Mountains last year that has outraged local hunters and conservationists. Simon heads deep into the Crazies to see the impacts of the swap that critics say only benefitted wealthy landowners in the area who now enjoy nearly exclusive access to the range and its valuable natural resources.
The proliferation of high-end private resorts, combined with the Trump administration’s pro-development policies, have only increased alarm among advocates across the country who say America’s public lands are now entering a very different era.
"People should care about what's happening in the Crazies, because it is very much a harbinger of potentially what could come." - Andrew Posewitz, Montana Public Lands Advocate
00:00 - 03:27 - Intro
03:28 - 05:41 - Heading into the Crazies with a Local Hunter
05:42 - 08:53 - Access Disputes Centuries in the Making
08:54 - 12:31 - The Yellowstone Club
12:32 - 13:31 - Members Include Top Trump Officials
13:32 - 15:57 - Land Swap Takes Shape and the Purchase of the Crazy Mountain Ranch
15:58 - 20:22 - East Crazies Land Exchange Unveiled
20:22 - 22:15 - A Harbinger of What Could Come
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