State commission endorses Stillwater easement

A proposed 1,000-acre conservation easement along the Stillwater River near Olney looks to provide permanent protection for a key piece of forest and wetland property.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission on Thursday endorsed the Stillwater River Conservation Project, allowing Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks to further negotiate the easement and complete related analysis.

FWP is working with The Trust for Public Land to place a conservation easement on the property that is located just south of Upper Stillwater Lake and is considered important riparian and lowland forestland about 10 miles north of Whitefish.

Kris Tempel, habitat conservation biologist with FWP, said the property is a fantastic lowland riparian and forest area sitting between the National Forest and Stillwater State Forest land that provides key habitat along with being an important wildlife corridor for animals including grizzly bears.

“This is a fabulous property with incredible wildlife and fish habitat,” she said.

About 840 acres of the property is forest and woodland and about 140 acres are open water/wetland and riparian systems. The property contains about 1 mile of the Stillwater River.

“Conservation of this parcel would protect a key hole in this landscape of public land, ensuring continued habitat connectivity for fish between Upper and Lower Stillwater Lakes as well as wildlife between Glacier National Park across the Flathead Forest all the way to the Cabinet-Yaak,” a memo on the project notes, while also permanently protecting free public access for hunting, fishing and other recreational activities.

TPL currently owns the property and plans to secure a conservation buyer to own and manage the property under the conservation easement, and then give the easement to FWP at no charge.

Typically, Tempel said, FWP purchases a conservation easement, so to have it being donated by TPL is a great part of the project.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “We usually have to pay the appraised value for the property and in this area that property would be worth quite a bit.”

Growth in Flathead County means that the threat to the property is “probable” for development, according to FWP, and the property is vulnerable to a “private buyer looking for a trophy land asset or potential subdivision into several lots.”

FWP says the land provides key habitat for 42 species of greatest conservation need as identified in Montana’s 2015 State Wildlife Action Plan and is also habitat for federally listed grizzly bears and supports populations of mule and white-tailed deer, elk, moose, black bear, mountain lion, wolf, forest grouse and turkeys.

It also meets the goals of Habitat Montana to conserve wildlife populations, adding to a larger landscape of conservation and allowing traditional forestry practices to occur while preserving wildlife habitat.

The project is part of an ongoing multi-partner conservation initiative that has been occurring over the last 20 years, which includes FWP, TPL, various timber companies, and multiple federal, state, private funding sources to protect large landscapes of working forest and fish and wildlife habitat in northwestern Montana.

Habitat on the property is in good condition, according to FWP’s proposal, and the landowner would continue to be responsible for the property management costs. The property would be managed under an approved forest management plan and by eliminating future housing development the project would likely reduce ongoing FWP obligations by reducing future wildlife/human conflicts.

The property is surrounded by public land to the north by the Stillwater State Forest and also by the Flathead National Forest.

Adjoining the property is two separate 40-acre parcels of private land. Another partnership is working to place those parcels under private conservation easement that would include restrictions for only one home site, so impacts from those private lands would be minimal to the area’s conservation values, according to an FWP memo.

Following the commissions endorsement, FWP will now conduct an environmental assessment of the project that will be open for public comment. The commission will then hold a final vote on accepting the conservation easement.