Enter The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Blackfoot Challenge with the Blackfoot Community Project, an effort by TNC to purchase 89,000 acres of Plum Creek land in the Blackfoot and sell it to public agencies and private buyers who agree to conservation easements. One goal of the Blackfoot project is to sell these lands to
adjacent conservation-minded private landowners in accordance with a community developed plan led by the Blackfoot Challenge. That’s when Stew and the other grazing association members realized that a conservation easement made sense. The easement will be held and stewarded by Five Valleys Land Trust. At 7,570 acres, it’s the largest easement in Five Valleys’ history.
Five Valleys worked closely with The Nature Conservancy; the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks;
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and the Blackfoot Challenge to complete the project in April of 2008. Funding came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through its habitat conservation program. The easement protects three and a half miles of Blackfoot River frontage and more than 14 miles of tributaries for the benefit of westslope cutthroat and bull trout.
This project is a milestone in resource protection and the first Montana easement aimed directly at protecting fisheries habitat. Ron Pierce, FWP fisheries biologist for the Blackfoot, has been involved throughout the process. “Protecting these tributaries is very important. That’s where all the spawning and reproduction takes place for imperiled native fish. The health of the Blackfoot River is a function of the health of the tributaries,” Pierce said. In addition, the easement protects habitat for grizzly bears, lynx and other wildlife and sits in a wildlife corridor that connects wilderness areas to the north with other public land to the south.
The Sunny Slope Grazing Association conservation easement is a great example of the benefits of working collaboratively with landowners. “It’s so critical,” said Blackfoot Challenge Lands Director Hank Goetz, “It helps maintain open space by keeping ranchers on the ground. If we keep them on the ground, it will take care of a lot of other problems.
Our thanks go to the landowners, the partners and the public who have supported this effort from the start.”
Five Valleys is thrilled to be a part of this wonderful project.
