The Nature Conservancy of Montana purchased 13,970 acres of the timber company's lands in two different parcels just before Christmas.
This latest acquisition brings the total number of acres purchased as part of the Blackfoot Community Project to 68,076. And the Nature Conservancy has options on another 20,000 acres of Plum Creek land.
“I can say to the folks of the Blackfoot and to the public in general, who have supported this project from the beginning, that we're well under way in meeting our goal of protecting the rural character of this valley,” said Blackfoot Challenge chairman Jim Stone. “What a great way to end the old year and bring in the new.”
Last week, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation purchased 2,480 acres of those formerly Plum Creek-owned lands from the Nature Conservancy. The properties are located in the Ovando Mountain and Lincoln areas.
The state Board of Land Commissioners also approved the purchase of 550 acres west of Hinsdale during its regular meeting last week.
The lands were purchased using funds from the Land Banking Program, which sells isolated tracts of state trust lands that both generate little revenue for school trust beneficiaries and aren't available for public access.
The three new parcels are projected to generate three to four times as much as the lands sold.
“The DNRC has achieved the goals of the Land Banking Program by increasing public access to state Trust Lands and increasing income potential for K-12 education,” said DNRC director Mary Sexton. “That's a substantial increase in funding for our beneficiaries, as well as a fair amount of additional recreational opportunities for Montanans to enjoy.”
The two parcels purchased last week from Plum Creek by the Nature Conservancy include 6,035 acres in the Chamberlin Creek area and 7,935 acres further south in Douglas Creek.
The plan calls for selling the Chamberlain Creek lands to the Bureau of Land Management in an effort to block up a checkerboard land ownership pattern. The property is in Powell County. It's heavily forested and serves as important habitat for elk, as well as bull trout and westslope cutthroat.
The purchase of those lands is a top priority for the BLM because it will “consolidate our ownership there,” said Jim Ledger, BLM's realty specialist in Missoula.
It's unclear when the agency will have the funding package assembled.
“With the change in Congress, we're not sure when funding for this purchase will be approved,” Ledger said.
The Conservancy will continue to pay taxes on the land until the sale is completed. That group and the Blackfoot Challenge also plan to set up an endowment to offset any future loss in county tax revenues once the land goes into public ownership.
The Douglas Creek property will probably be resold to private landowners after conservation agreements have been put in place.
The two groups continue to raise private contributions toward the purchase of a 5,600-acre Blackfoot Community Conservation Area on and around Ovando Mountain. The groups need to raise another $2 million in private contributions by September 2007 to reach a $10 million goal that will meet the terms of an $850,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation.
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