Why It Matters: Voluntary conservation agreements are valuable tools for conserving private working forests that support fish and wildlife habitat. Combined, both phases of the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement conserves more than 85,000 acres where sustainable forest management will continue to benefit forest health, wildlife habitat, and the economy. Notably and not common for conservation easements, even easements purchased with public dollars, this project protects public access for hunting and fishing.
Highlights:
- Development and conversion to non-forest uses are the biggest threats to privately-owned forests in the United States. As forestlands are developed, fish and wildlife habitat is fragmented, and hunting and fishing access is often lost as well.
- Land subject to a conservation easement remains in private ownership and continues to pay county real property taxes. Easements on working forests ensure that the land will be actively managed to reduce wildfire risk and support the forest industry, and the conserved fish and wildlife habitat and open space benefits the public at large.
- In July, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) submitted a letter supporting the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement – Phase 2 to conserve in perpetuity a large working forest in Northwest Montana that guarantees public access for hunting and fishing.
On October 20, the Montana Board of Land Commissioners approved Phase 2 of the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement. The project conserves 52,930 acres of working forestland in Flathead and Lincoln Counties owned by the Green Diamond Resource Company and builds on the success of Phase 1 of the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement that previously conserved roughly 33,000 acres of forestland. Green Diamond donated roughly 35% of the value of the conservation easement, and the remainder of the easement value was purchased with funding from Habitat Montana, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program.
CSF’s letter stressed the importance of approving the project to maintain public access for hunters and anglers and to conserve an important wildlife migration corridor and year-round habitat for species popular with sportsmen and women, including, among others, mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, and Westslope cutthroat trout. CSF’s letter also underscored the importance of the project to conserving working forestland that will continue to be managed sustainably for timber to increase forest resiliency to wildfire and other threats, improve wildlife habitat, and support the state’s economy.
