The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation recently completed a wildlife conservation and pro-access project that expands the Garrity Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA) just west of Anaconda to 10,389 acres.

“This land is especially important because it provides spring calving and winter elk range as well as habitat for whitetail and mule deer, moose and bighorn sheep,” said Blake Henning, RMEF chief conservation officer. “It also features nearly one mile of riparian habitat along Warm Springs Creek which contains many fish species including westslope cutthroat and bull trout, both of which are Montana species of concern.”

Ironically, the project brings RMEF full circle in the immediate area. In 2000, RMEF brokered a transaction that eventually conveyed 32,000 acres of private land to state and federal ownership which includes today’s Garrity Mountain WMA. At the time, it was the largest land project in RMEF history.

RMEF’s Torstenson Family Endowment, FWP, Montana Natural Resource Damage Program and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Trust contributed vital funding to complete this project.