A controversial Montana land swap orchestrated by a secretive club for the megarich 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

Read more in our new investigation:

Trump officials, billionaires and the quiet reshaping of America’s public lands

A controversial land swap orchestrated by the mega rich could be “a harbinger of what’s to come” for public lands under Trump.

FloodlightEvan Simon/Floodlight