In 1948, the state of Montana bought a 67,000-acre
ranch near the southern flank of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area
in order to protect land for wintering elk and deer. The Montana
Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks manages the tract, known as
the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area, but private
inholdings are increasingly susceptible to development. Now, a
coalition in Montana hopes to raise $2.2 million to buy 1,800 acres
within the management area from the Plum Creek Timber Co. The
agency hopes to obtain another 6,000 acres from the company through
state and federal land trades. Though the Plum Creek land is leased
to the state, Mike Thompson of Fish, Wildlife and Parks says that
as real estate values rise, private landowners will be more likely
to sell off lands within the wildlife management area. “We see
things changing,” Thompson says.
The Five Valleys
Land Trust is selling posters of the Monte Dolack painting,
“Blackfoot-Clearwater,” to help raise the $2.2 million. To purchase
a $30 poster, contact Five Valleys Land Trust, P.O. Box 8953,
Missoula, MT 59807. For details about the land purchase, contact
Mike Thompson, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 3201 Spurgin Road,
Missoula, MT 59804 (406/542-5523).
* Dustin
Solberg
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Save land now.
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