Group hopes to secure conservation easement

A haven for sandhill cranes and scores of other migratory birds would become one of the only protected habitats in the West Valley under a conservation easement being coordinated by the Flathead Land Trust.

The nonprofit organization on Monday kicked off a fundraising campaign to secure the roughly $70,000 still needed to complete its non-federal share of the $1.4 million landowner agreement. About $400,000 is being donated by the landowners, while a mix of federal and private grants will pick up the rest of the tab.

Paul Travis, the land trust’s executive director, said the 400-acre parcel is a unique habitat that provides a critical stopover for flocks of sandhill cranes often numbering in the hundreds.

“It’s this unique mix of pothole wetland and farmland,” Travis said. “There’s something just kind of magical about these wetlands that attracts these birds.”

The proposed conservation easement lies north of Kalispell near the Stillwater River, and is bordered to the west by West Valley Drive and to the east by West Springcreek Road.

Each fall, sandhill cranes use the 45-acre “pothole” lake — formed thousands of years ago by melting chunks of ice left by receding glaciers — during an annual migration from southern New Mexico and northern Mexico to their Arctic breeding grounds. The birds stand four to five feet tall with six-foot wingspans, and are known as one of the few species that mate for life in pairs that raise their young together.

During the day, the lanky birds feast on the left-over grains in the surrounding fields before returning en masse to their temporary residences at the water’s edge. The pothole itself has value in its unusual hydrology, land protection specialist Laura Katzman said. The underground flow of water is not fully understood, but the tiny lake is also known for its dependable wetlands in otherwise dry years, including the severe drought that emptied many shallow lakes and private wells in the area during the summer of 2015.

And while birders and other wildlife enthusiasts in the Flathead are familiar with the privately-owned parcel of farmland, Katzman said she hopes the land trust will be able to expand the opportunity to see the birds to a new generation, as well.

Under the terms of the easement, a quarter-acre area on the southern end of the parcel would be opened to parking for school groups, local groups and other members of the public to watch sandhill cranes along with more than 140 other species of birds known to frequent the wetlands.

“This provides a place in perpetuity, where people can view them, because you don’t know what’s going to happen to these places,” Katzman said.

Travis noted that for the land trust, the success of future projects could owe to this one, as nearby landowners weigh the possibility of inking easement deals of their own.

The 400-acre easement would consist of two privately owned parcels. Future landowners would only be able to divide the land once more, but would not be able to develop it for most types of businesses and extractive purposes.

“Business would be limited to home businesses and agricultural types of uses that don’t limit the conservation value,” Travis said.

Katzman and Travis are quick to note that their organization doesn’t malign the development steadily expanding along the U.S. 2 corridor north of Kalispell, but commended the landowners for their willingness to explore the easement option, giving the rising pressure to subdivide in the area.

“If you were thinking of a good place to put a development, this would be it,” Travis said, noting its open views into Glacier National Park and of Big Mountain to the north.

“As things develop and change, hopefully we’ll have kept enough of the special places that it’s still a great place to live,” Katzman added.

For more information or to donate, visit www.flatheadlandtrust.org or call 406-752-8293.