State panel OKs land purchase on North Shore

A 77-acre addition to the North Shore Wildlife Management Area along Flathead Lake will face a final vote before the Montana Land Board next week after the state Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved the $489,000 purchase on Thursday.

Alan Wood, the resource conservation manager for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region One, said the deal could close as soon as mid-February, pending approval by the land board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Located about 4.5 miles east of Somers, the parcel contains farmland and wetlands that provide riparian habitat and feeding grounds for migratory waterfowl. It sits next to the 189-acre existing wildlife management area, which the state and federal wildlife agencies manage cooperatively.

“We’re acquiring the existing farm lease that will go through the 2016 growing season,” Wood said.

“Then we’re going to put out for bid the farming contract on all three parcels [in the management area] and put together a plan that would include farm fields, permanent cover and restoration so there would be more diversity and it would be wildlife-friendly and user-friendly.”

The public will have open access and be allowed to hunt on the property except during its seasonal closure for migratory waterfowl from March 1 through July 15.

The purchase would be funded by a grant from the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act program, which uses a federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition purchased in the state.

Wood said the current landowner also donated a quarter of the property’s appraised value, satisfying the grant’s matching funds requirement.

After the commission’s vote, the Fish and Wildlife Service also gave its formal approval to the the proposal on Thursday.

The Land Board will take up the proposal during its monthly meeting on Tuesday.

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