Plan looks to protect the Front

Hungry Horse News

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed placing conservation easements on about 170,000 acres of private land along the Rocky Mountain Front south of Glacier National Park.

The plan calls for "willing buyer and willing seller," agreements only and would allow for traditional uses of the land, such as ranching and farming.

What it aims to do is stop or curtail subdivision of the land.

In short, it wants to stop housing sprawl on the scale that has happened here in Western Montana.

"The Front remains biologically intact and has not been significantly impacted by residential and commercial development," The USFWS says in its environmental assessment of the plan.

The project area extends from the South Fork of the Dearborn River north to Birch Creek.

It is home to nearly every species that was here when Lewis and Clark first explored the area 200 years ago.

The land under easement would remain in private hands and public access would be controlled by the landowners, thus they would still pay taxes.

The federal monies used to acquire the easements would come from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. They're derived primarily from oil and gas leases on the outer continental shelf, fuel tax revenues, and sale of surplus federal property.

Addition funds to acquire easements could come from direct congressional appropriations, the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund and donations from non-profit organizations.

Public comments on the plan will be taken until May 27.

The entire environmental assessment can be read at: http://bentonlake.fws.gov/. You can e-mail comments to: david_gillund@fws.gov.