Condon land deal sets stage for future

Easement will limit development and prevent subdivision of property

Montana forestry legend Bud Moore has completed a conservation easement on 80 acres of his Swan Valley property, setting the stage for future measures to protect wildlife habitat on nearby lands.

Moore - a 55-year Forest Service veteran, hunter, trapper and author - teamed up with the nonprofit organization, Vital Ground, to secure the conservation easement on 80 acres of his property near Condon.

The easement will permanently limit development and prevent subdivision of the property while allowing traditional forest management to continue in a manner designed to enhance wildlife habitat.

Moore currently manages the "Coyote Forest" for timber and wildlife habitat, using the wood to supply his portable mill. As a consultant, he contracts with Swan Valley residents to develop forest stewardship plans on other private forest lands.

Moore donated the easement largely because escalating real estate prices in the Swan Valley are putting traditional conservation values under siege.

The easement will "help sustain linked patterns of diverse forests, working forests that provide jobs for people, clean water, quiet lakes, habitat for a variety of wildlife large and small, habitats for the recovery of endangered species, and for the other values that brought us here and are bring many others to the valley," Moore said in a press release.

Because the easement provides for sustainable timber harvest on the property, it has qualified and been accepted in the Forest Service's Forest Legacy program. Through a formal agreement between Moore, Vital Ground and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the value of the easement can be applied as a leveraging "match" for funding from the Forest Legacy Program.

The state plans to apply that funding toward purchase of forest lands in the Swan Valley for conservation purposes, according to Steven Knapp, habitat bureau chief for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

"Thanks to the cooperation of Mr. Moore and Vital Ground, Montana will leverage the value of their easement to provide about $600,000 in federal funds that we will use to conserve other important forest lands in the Swan Valley," Knapp said.

The Moore easement complements a landmark effort being pursued by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to establish a conservation easement for about 7,200 acres of Plum Creek Timber Co. forest lands north of Condon. That project also would involve outright purchase of an additional 3,680 acres owned by Plum Creek.

Forest Legacy funding leveraged by Moore's easement would likely be applied toward the purchase of the Plum Creek property, Knapp said.

The state developed a draft environmental assessment for the Plum Creek deal, with public comment closing in early November. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is now preparing a final environmental assessment.

Knapp said the Swan Valley is a perfect area to direct efforts to protect wildlife habitat. Plum Creek's stated plans of selling "higher and better use" properties have raised concerns among Swan Valley residents about wildlife habitat degradation, decreased public access to forest lands, and the loss of "working forests."

"The Swan Valley is a very biologically diverse valley," Knapp said. "It has grizzly bears, it has bull trout, it has good whitetail deer populations … We want to see it keep some of its traditional values and that's what the Forest Legacy Program lets us do."

The Moore easement is the first negotiated by Vital Ground, a nonprofit organization that recently relocated from Park City, Utah, to Missoula. As part of that transition, the organization also shifted its role as a grant-making partner to a "full-service" land trust that initiates and leads complex conservation projects. Vital Ground also owns and manages several conservation properties in northern Idaho plus one along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front.

"Vital Ground is excited to partner with Bud Moore and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to help protect this important wildlife habitat in the Swan Valley," said Gary Wolfe, the organization's executive director. "The project is consistent with our philosophy of targeting small, but vital, parcels of wildlife habitat and working with landowners to develop creative conservation strategies to protect habitat and minimize potential conflicts between bears and humans, while still allowing landowners to utilize their lands in many traditional ways."

The project received additional funding support from the Montana Land Reliance, the Wildlife Land Trust, the Cinnabar Foundation, Montana Coffee Traders, and from many individual Vital Ground members across the country.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com