Land Trust grant to restore C-Falls wetlands

The Flathead Land Trust and its partners have received final approval for a $1 million North American Wetland Conservation Act grant. Part of that money will be used to restore 125 acres of wetlands and streams on land owned Jeff Smith and another Columbia Falls area property owner.

The grant was made possible in part by another Columbia Falls family, Glenn and Hazel Johnston. The Johnstons put 700 acres of land off Columbia Falls Stage Road into a conservation easement in 2007.

Together with the Roth family, who donated a conservation easement to the Montana Land Reliance on 700 acres they own in the Swan Valley in 2012, the Flathead Land Trust was able to use those easements as a match for the grant, according to Laura Katzman, a land protection specialist with the Flathead Land Trust.

Another donated conservation easement held by Flathead Land Trust on 121 acres near Creston helped provide a match for the grant. Katzman said additional funding is needed to complete the easements on the Smith property in Columbia Falls.

The grant also will be used to add 77 acres to the North Shore Wildlife Management Area and 128 acres to the Smith Lake Waterfowl Production, and acquire a 157-acre easement along Sabine Creek in the Mission Valley and a 128-acre easement on private lands near Smith Lake. The goal is to protect wetlands along the Mission Mountain Front and east of the National Bison Range.

The Flathead Lakers, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, American Bird Conservancy, Montana Land Reliance, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service all contributed expertise and information to complete the grant application.

This is the second $1 million grant the Johnston family has helped the Flathead Land Trust obtain to implement conservation projects benefiting migratory birds. A portion of the value of their donated conservation easement was used as a match for a North American Wetland Conservation Act grant in 2009, which helped the Flathead Land Trust and their partners conserve 697 acres.

That included projects along the Flathead River and Church Slough, additions to the Smith Lake Waterfowl Production Area, and restoring and enhancing 89 acres of wetlands in the Ninepipes Wildlife Management Area.