7,068-acre easement finalized

A $9.5 million, 7,068-acre conservation easement has been finalized for the Trumbull Creek area north of Columbia Falls, the Trust for Public Land and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Park announced Friday.

The land-use agreement for the property, owned by Stoltze Land & Lumber Co., permanently bars commercial and residential development, while allowing timber management and public recreational use to continue. Stoltze contributed to the cost of the easement by donating a portion of the land value. The majority of the $9.5 million came from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, Forest Legacy Program and Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund.

“It really has high resource values,” Trust for Public Land Northern Rockies Director Dick Dolan said in an interview. He added that the land includes grizzly bear and Canadian lynx habitat, and serves as the headwaters for bull trout spawning areas.

“It’s been used extensively by the public over the years, because of Stoltze’s generous public-access policy, and it’s beloved to people that have used it for a long time,” Dolan added.

The agreement’s closure comes just over a year after a more than 3,000-acre easement nearby in Haskill Basin was finalized.

“The Trumbull Creek conservation easement is a win-win for everyone, just like the adjacent easement in Haskill Basin,” Chuck Roady, vice president and general manager of Stoltze, stated in a press release. “The Stoltze family is very proud to continue sustainably managing the forests on these lands and allowing the traditional recreational uses, while protecting the land from future development,”

The project was supported by U.S. Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines, along with Congressman Ryan Zinke.

Dolan added that both of those projects were in part initiated by former Trust for Public Land project manager Alex Diekmann, who died before either was completed.

“It’s especially poignant because we closed it on the anniversary of Alex Diekmann’s passing,” he said. “This was his project, and he got it started. ... It’s a great tribute to his legacy.”

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.