FWP approves purchase of northwest Montana conservation easement
Micah Drew
(Daily Montanan) The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission at its Aug. 21 meeting approved purchasing a conservation easement across a more than 50,000-acre swath of land spanning three counties in northwest Montanan, permanently providing public access and protecting wildlife habitat.
Phase Two of the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement Project will more than double the protected land in the Cabinet Mountains between Kalispell and Libby, following the acquisition of a similar easement that the Montana Land Board approved last fall.
The land is owned by Green Diamond Resource Company and the full project, first proposed in 2021, will ultimately protect nearly 86,000 acres of working forest land around the Thompson Chain of Lakes. Under the easement, the land will remain under private ownership and contribute to the tax base of the respective counties, while allowing for permanent public access for recreation.
“For many years, in fact, probably three generations, these lands have been open to public use, generously provided by those forestry companies that have owned these grounds and they’ve been treated as quasi public. That use will continue here,” Bill Schenk, Land and Water Program Manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks told the commission. “The other thing it does is it allows and incorporates, again, as a conservation value, the perpetuation of timber production on this ground.”
The Montana Great Outdoors Conservation project has drawn a groundswell of support during the years from timber companies, conservation groups, politicians and recreationists, many of whom submitted public comment in favor of the easement.
Timberland in northwest Montana has become smaller and more fragmented during the decades as companies have bought and sold vast amounts of forestland and parceled bits and pieces off for development. Despite that, conservation organizations and the state have sought to protect as much land as possible.
A decade ago, much of Montana’s privately-held forest land in the northwest — nearly 900,000 acres —was owned by Plum Creek Timber. That company was purchased by timber giant Weyerhaeuser in 2016 and three years later, sold off more than 600,000 acres to Southern Pine Plantations, a real estate investment company. Southern Pines subsequently sold nearly 300,000 acres to Green Diamond, a sixth-generation timber company.
“We play what we call the long game,” Eric Schallon, Director of Real Asset Sales for Green Diamond, told the commission. “We are stewards at heart. This property needs a chance to come back. It was hit pretty hard by prior owners, so it’s in a regenerative state.”
The forestry work Green Diamond does on its land outside of timber harvest, including thinning for fire resiliency, is expensive, Schallon said, and conservation easements help fund that forestry work while ensuring the land will remain in timber production.
“Another takeaway for this — hunting access is great. Lots of people here today can speak to that,” Schallon said. “It’s also good for clean air, it’s good for clean water, and it’s good for the animals, which I know you all care about because fragmented habitat is bad for all the critters. So this keeps large blocks together, and it keeps jobs in rural communities that need them. So we’ve got working forests that stay working.”
Multiple conservation, recreation and wildlife groups spoke up in favor of the conservation easement including the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Montana Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife, Montana Wildlife Federation, Montana Audubon, Trout Unlimited, Libby Rod and Gun Club, Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the Big Sky Upland Bird Association and the Trust for Public Land.
The Trust for Public Land was key in fundraising for the first phase of the conservation project, coordinating $4.2 million in private fundraising.
“The completion of Phase One … was critical to prevent the very real threat of land conversions and subdivision and development, and this Phase Two doubles down and improves recreational access for hiking, hunting, fishing and more; will continue to ensure sustainable timber management; and stitches together over a quarter of a million acres of forest legacy projects completed over the last 20 years,” David Weinstein, northern Rockies director for TPL said. “This is the kind of project commensurate to the heritage and wildlife habitat and local economy of the residents of northwest Montana.”
While the Trust did not help fundraise for the purchase of the Phase Two easement, Weinstein pointed out that for every dollar invested through the state’s Habitat Montana program, funded through nonresident hunting license fees and a portion of recreational cannabis sales, leveraged $38 from landowners and the federal government.
The county commissions for Flathead, Lincoln and Sanders counties all submitted letters supporting the conservation easements.
But one dissenting voice spoke up at the commission hearing. Peter Scott, an attorney for WRH Nevada Properties, which owns 54% of the mineral rights across the project area, said that the commission should pause its decision to fully consider those rights.
“This conservation easement specifically allows for mineral activity on more than half of the property you’re considering,” Scott said. “It is expressly incompatible with perpetual protection as provided in those guidelines.”
Scott said the state had not adequately consulted with the company about the easement or made an offer to purchase the mineral interests.
Similar concerns arose during discussions on Phase One of the conservation project, but last year a court order from Lincoln County District Court Judge Matthew Cuffe clarified that “it is unreasonable to interpret the plain language of the Proposed Easement as interfering with WRH Nevada’s mineral rights.”
According to FWP’s environmental assessment of the project, “there is a low potential for any development of locatable or leasable minerals.”
The environmental assessment also states that the easement will provide habitat connectivity for numerous animal species, including numerous species of concern or Endangered Species Act-listed animals such as grizzly bears, Canada lynx and bull trout.
Completion of this project will build on the success of the nearby 32,821-acre Phase 1 of the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement, the 142,000-acre Thompson-Fisher Conservation Easement (FWP), the 100,000-acre USFWS Lost Trail Conservation Area (USFWS), and connect to other protected lands including the Kootenai and Lolo National Forests, and the Thompson Chain of Lakes State Park.
The Montana Land Board, comprising the state’s five top elected officials, will take a final vote on the project later this year.