State continues work to protect wild lands in Northwest Montana

Yahoo

21-02-2025

Feb. 21—State wildlife officials are continuing their efforts to protect wild lands from development in northwest Montana.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking public input on a potential project that would place nearly 53,000 acres of private timberland in northwest Montana under a conservation easement and protect working lands, public recreation access and wildlife habitat.
FWP has published a draft environmental assessment that outlines the proposed second phase of the project named the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement.
This is the second of a two-phased project totaling 85,752 acres of private timberland and fish and wildlife habitat owned by Green Diamond Resource Company. The first phase of the project, covering nearly 33,000 with a conservation easement, was approved by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission and Montana Land Board Dec. 16, 2024, and closed in February 2025.
FWP is hosting a public informational meeting from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 5 at the FWP regional office in Kalispell, 490 N. Meridian. The public is invited to attend and ask questions about the project.
The deadline to comment on this proposal is 5 p.m. Saturday, March 15. To comment and learn more, visit https://fwp.mt.gov/news/public-notices.
The timeline includes a recommended decision to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission by April 24. A review of the project by the FWP Fish & Wildlife Commission is scheduled June 19 and a state Land Board Review of the project and decision is set for Aug. 18.
"Conservation easements are not us buying the land," Tabish said. "This would still be in private ownership. They would still pay property taxes. They'll still be able to do forestry work."
"It basically allows them to keep owning the land and keep doing what they're doing on it," he added. "But it precludes development, so it can't be subdivided or anything like that."
The new easement would encompass forestlands in the Cabinet Mountains between Kalispell and Libby. The private property provides abundant public hunting and angling opportunities that would be permanently secured under this proposal.
The property elevation ranges from about 3,000 feet near Cow Creek to 6,700 feet near Meadow Peak. It consists primarily of Douglas-fir and mixed conifer stands interspersed with long valleys and wet meadows.
Dry ponderosa pine stands are found at low elevation sites and on south-facing slopes, while shade-tolerant trees such as grand fir and subalpine fir are found on cool north-facing slopes and at higher elevation sties. Engelmann spruce and western red cedar are typically found along streams in riparian habitat.
Major drainages in the project area include the Pleasant Valley Fisher River, Barnum Creek, Lang Creek, McKillop Creek and Wolf Creek.
This project would conserve wildlife winter range and a movement corridor for 100 to 150 elk, 400 to 450 mule deer, 800 to 900 white-tailed deer and 20 to 40 moose.
It would provide critical habitat for federally threatened species found on or near the property including bull trout, grizzly bear, Canada lynx, and wolverine as well as protect streams for westslope cutthroat trout and Columbia River redband trout, both species of concern in Montana. Other species of concern that use the area include hoary bat and northern goshawk.
In addition, the property also provides a key connectivity corridor for grizzly bears traveling between the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) and the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem (CYE), which are designated grizzly bear recovery zones.
If the project were approved, Green Diamond would maintain ownership of the land under an easement owned by FWP.
The easement would allow Green Diamond to sustainably harvest wood products from these timberlands, preclude development, protect important wildlife habitat and associated key landscape connectivity, and provide permanent free public access to the easement lands.
The affected property has historically been owned by mining companies, timber companies and individual landowners. These owners have often allowed the public to access the property under short-term block management agreements or voluntary open land policies. Hunters and anglers have used these de facto public lands for generations and the property currently provides approximately 9,500 days per year of public hunting and angling use.
In 2019, Weyerhaeuser sold all 630,000 acres of its Montana lands to Southern Pine Plantations (SPP). In 2021 and 2022, SPP sold 475,000 acres of its Montana lands to multiple landowners. Green Diamond made the largest purchase of SPP lands at 291,000 acres, including all the lands located within the footprint of Phases 1 and 2 of the proposed Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement.
The appraised value of the second phase of the proposed Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement is $57.5 million.
If this proposal were to proceed, the U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program would provide $35.8 million while $1.5 million would come from the Habitat Montana program and $200,000 from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Landowner Green Diamond would provide an in-kind contribution of about $20 million in the form of donated land value arising from the sale of the easement.