The Nature Conservancy in Montana is working with the BLM and the Land and Water Conservation Fund to improve access and recreational opportunities in the lower Blackfoot Valley. Over the next couple years TNC plans to sell about 13,000 acres to the BLM, which will use LWCF dollars to purchase the lands. TNC acquired the land in 2014 through a purchase of 117,000 acres of Plum Creek lands, with the intention of converting some of the lands to public ownership. The purchased land shares boundaries with BLM-managed lands in the Lower Blackfoot River-Belmont Creek area, about 25 miles northeast of Missoula. The project was hailed by US Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier.
