Land Trust News

Kelly Kountz Photo / Courtesy of Gallatin Valley Land Trust

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PPLT, Sevenmile Creek Recognized for Adding Helena Water “Storage”

      In a lengthy Lee Newspaper statewide article titled “Reflecting on Water: Montana Operators Look Back on Summer of Drought,” a little nugget of information about the Prickly Pear Land Trust’s Sevenmile Creek restoration project touted the project’s value for water conservation.

     From the article: Prickly Pear Land Trust saw the effects of reconnecting Sevenmile Creek with its floodplain northwest of Helena. The trust acquired over 2 miles of the stream in 2016 as part of its Peaks to Creeks initiative and has been restoring it since then.

     The stream had been straightened years ago for unclear purposes. It ended up carving itself into a trench, with places where the banks were 14 feet above the streambed, according to Nate Kopp with the trust. With the creek rerouted to meander in its original floodplain, he said the water became more accessible to the landscape and groundwater levels rose by 7 to 10 feet.

     In the face of early spring runoff and warmer temperatures, water shortages—and drought—appear to be increasingly prevalent. Kevin League, PPLT lands project manager, noted in an email that additional Montana land trusts are actively working on projects that conserve water. 

PHOTO: Sevenmile Creek

27,000 Acres of Additional Conservation Proposed for NW Montana Forests

       The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Stimson Lumber Company — with key project support from The Trust for Public Land — is proposing a 27,000-acre conservation easement on forestlands held by Stimson through the Phase II Kootenai Forestland Conservation Project near Libby.  

     The proposed project is in FWP’s public review process, with a public hearing  set for Libby the evening of July 14.

     The project would produce many benefits, including sustainable forest management, public access and recreation, wildlife habitat conservation, wood products industry jobs retention and more.

     From the Flathead Beacon article: 

     “Completion of this project would build on the success of the nearby Forest Legacy Program-funded 142,000-acre Thompson-Fisher Conservation Easement, the 28,000-acre Kootenai Valleys Conservation Easement, and the 22,295-acre Kootenai Forestlands Phase I Conservation Easement, which was the first phase of this project,” according to a press release from FWP. “Forest Legacy projects in Montana and Idaho have cumulatively helped to conserve over 300,000 acres of working forestlands that remain in private ownership while securing permanent public access and habitat conservation.” 

 

The Conservation Fund’s Commitment to Montana Working Ranches

Working ranches play a huge role in the environmental health of Montana, especially along the wildlife-rich Rocky Mountain Front. However, the next generation of ranchers faces a big challenge—the ability to purchase and own their own ranchland. That’s why, when The Conservation Fund learned of Matt and Stacy Crabb—two Montana ranchers who desired to purchase and protect the ranch on which they worked, which also abuts critical open space and wildlife corridors—TCF stepped in to help.

Two Flathead Land Trust Recreation and Conservation Projects Gaining Traction

Two major Flathead Valley recreation and conservation projects – one at the north shore of Flathead Lake near Somers and the other near the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company facility – have recently taken key steps toward approval. Both projects involve Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks as a major partner.

The Somers Beach project would create permanent recreational access to Flathead Lake through sale of private land currently owned by the Sliter family. The proposed project would create a new state park on Flathead Lake’s north shore. FWP has released an environmental assessment proposing to purchase the Somers Beach property owned by the Sliter family, and comments are being accepted thru Sept. 12. Here’s a link where you can comment.

The Bad Rock Canyon Conservation Project received initial approval from the Fish and Wildlife Commission to purchase and conserve 800 acres at CFAC along the Flathead River, and manage the property as a designed FWP Wildlife Management Area. The conditional approval gives FWP and FLT, as project leaders,  a two-year window to pursue needed funding to complete the project.

Both projects enjoy strong community support. (Photos: Left, Somers Beach. Right, Bad Rock Canyon

       

 

Final Approval Awarded to Potter Ranch Conservation Easement

The Lewis and Clark County Commission unanimously voted for final approval of allocating county open land program funds for the Potter Ranch conservation easement, clearing the way for Prickly Pear Land Trust to finalize the 3,100 acre project.

From a PPLT enthusiastic August 13 Facebook post:

Today marks a momentous day for conservation in the Helena Valley! This morning, the L&C County Board of Commissioners unanimously and enthusiastically voted to approve the 3,100 acre Potter Ranch Conservation Easement, PPLT’s largest easement to date. The project will officially close in the next couple weeks and will serve as a lasting reminder of the community’s foresight and commitment to protecting wild and working lands. This would not have been possible without the incredible support from the PPLT community. Thank you to everyone who wrote a letter of support for this project and everyone who supports the work we do day to day. Because of your support, generations to come will delight in the open views, pristine wildlife habitat, and working lands the Potter Ranch affords; an immeasurable benefit.

MALT thanks the Potter family, open land citizen advisory committee and committee staff, and the Lewis and Clark County Commissioners.

Kevin League Photography

Conserving Superb Wildlife Habitat and Family Ranching

Bryant Jones always dreamed of owning a ranch. And he owns a spectacular one. His Willow Basin Ranch southwest of Dillon is exceptional for its high-quality wildlife habitat and its vast views of nothing but open country.

“Our nearest neighbors are fifteen miles away,” says Jones. “I love the solitude and rugged untouched spirit the area has. It’s a unique and undeveloped corner of the world. I want to keep it that way.”

Those are also qualities that convinced The Nature Conservancy in Montana to place a NRCS Agricultural Conservation Easement Program Agricultural Land Easement on about 4,000 acres of the Willow Basin Ranch.

The Willow Basin easement is one of two recently completed in the High Divide by The Nature Conservancy in Montana (TNC). Together they secure nearly 7,000 acres of superb wildlife habitat as well as the future of these family ranches. These latest two easements are part of nearly 40,000 acres that TNC has secured since the winter of 2018.

“The financial return (from the easement) was very attractive for someone just starting out in ranching with a young family,” says Jones. “It allows me the opportunity to continue ranching the land and preserves the wild untouched place that it is.”

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation: Falls Creek Project Provides Access, Habitat and Conservation

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, based in Missoula and one of Montana’s premier wildlife conservation organizations, celebrated the closing of the Falls Creek project in 2019 with a major celebration at the project site near the Rocky Mountain Front, and in RMEF’s signature publication (The Bugle). The Falls Creek project not only opened up public access to the scenic falls itself, but to an additional of 26,000 acres of public land. RMEF negotiated a purchased agreement with a cooperative Barrett family, raised the funding to purchase the 442-acre property, and now the land is in public USFS ownership. Read the full – and very interesting – story here, as told by RMEF.

Montana Land Reliance, Raths Family, NRCS and State Sage Grouse Program Team Up in Central Montana

The State of Montana and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service have both made sage grouse habitat conservation top priorities, and so have The Montana Land Reliance and the Raths Ranch near Roundup.

Landowners Jeff and Bea Raths partnered with MLR, NRCS and the Montana Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program to place a conservation easement on 11,230 acres of their ranch to help maintain healthy sage grouse habitat and populations.

The NRCS featured the Raths and the conservation easement on the Montana NRCS website, and the Raths also received a 2019 conservation award from MLR. Montana is working hard to retain state authority of sage grouse, and projects like this will help the state achieve that goal.

Five Valleys Land Trust: Graveley Cattle Ranch

Five Valleys Land Trust, with help from a bunch of partners, in 2019 completed its largest conservation easement ever on the 5,100-acre Graveley Ranch.

The Graveley Ranch is a place of windswept beauty. Located outside of Garrison, and visible from Interstate 90, the ranch rolls from the East Garnet Mountains into juniper-sagebrush steppes and high montane grasslands, down into conifers stands and tracks of riparian habitat along Brock Creek, Bear Gulch, Warm Springs Creek and the Clark Fork River. Tucked away into these hills, a spring bubbles into a large waterfall feature—a rarity among the coolies and sage of this region.