ScholarWorks at University of Montana

The Montana Legacy Project in the Clark Fork Basin

The Montana Legacy Project aims to conserve important forestland most recently owned by Plum Creek Timber Company in northwestern Montana. In 2008 the Legacy Project partners, The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land, reached an agreement with Plum Creek to purchase approximately 310,000 acres of timberland. The transaction is structured as a three-phased purchase to take place over the next two years. The first closing occurred in December 2008 and the second took place in February of 2009. The acquisition portion of the project is to be completed in December 2010. While the Legacy Project partners will hold a portion of the land temporarily, ultimately all land will be conveyed into a mix of federal, state and private ownership. Much of the land included in this purchase is within the Clark Fork River watershed, including land in the upper Clearwater Valley near Seeley Lake, the Lolo Creek watershed, the Mill Creek area, Fish Creek and Petty Creek west of Missoula, the Rock Creek area and in the Garnet Mountains between Potomac and Interstate 90. It is part of what is known as the Crown of the Continent, one of the largest, most intact ecosystems remaining in the United States. The landscape provides habitat and habitat linkages for several threatened and endangered species including grizzly bears, lynx, and bull trout. Much of the land is low elevation terrain that is critical for terrestrial and aquatic species and highly susceptible to development pressures. The Legacy Project partners will raise funds from federal, state and private sources to implement this project.