Conservation Strategies Subcommittee
 The Conservation Strategies Subcommittee helps to maintain the traditional uses of private working lands and to promote coordinated land management practices across public and private ownership boundaries. These efforts are focused on lands with high ecological significance and that have high community values for public access and timber management. Currently, this subcommittee serves to coordinate opportunities to work with private landowners to achieve their conservation objectives through voluntary agreements – primarily conservation easements. This group continues to work as a partnership of interested stakeholders to share information and develop conservation tools and strategies to promote and conserve the extraordinary qualities of the Swan Valley.
The Montana Legacy Project
A cooperative effort among many organizations has led to the acquisition of about 66,000 acres of former Plum Creek Timber Co. lands in the Swan Valley as part of the 310,000-acre Montana Legacy Project. These lands were acquired temporarily by The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land (two national land trust organizations) and then passed on to the Flathead National Forest or the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The goal of the Montana Legacy Project in western Montana is to protect working forest lands, wildlife habitat and public access.
A few thousand acres of Montana Legacy Project land in the Swan Valley remain in the temporary ownership of The Nature Conservancy. Swan Ecosystem Center has an interest in protecting these lands for community benefits.
Swan Valley Update - January 2011 (PDF).
Update 2010: Conservation, land ownership changes in past year all over map
by ROB CHANEY of The Missoulian, January 1, 2011 (PDF)
Donor's $35M funds Montana Legacy Project, but years of work remain
by ROB CHANEY of The Missoulian, December 14, 2010 (PDF)
Swiss philanthropist buys $35M in Plum Creek Timber land in western Montana
by MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press, The Missoulian, December 13, 2010 (PDF)
Strong Partnership Makes Conservation History
The Nature Conservancy, December 2, 2010 (PDF)
For more information visit The Montana Legacy Project.
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