The focus of a recently completed 7,800-acre conservation easement involving Plum Creek timber lands in the Swan Valley is twofold - maintenance and enhancement.
One aspect of the maintenance and enhancement focus is on the Swan Valley's importance to native bull trout populations, a fish species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Three streams within the 7,800 acre easement area - Elk, Goat and Squeezer Creeks - each provide valuable, cold water spawning habitat for the fish. In addition, the confluence of the Swan River and Elk Creek is a critical staging area for the migration of spawning bull trout.
"Elk Creek is the most important bull trout stream on the Flathead Forest," Anne Dahl said, executive director of the Swan Ecosystem Center. As such, Dahl added that the creek has been closed to fishing for some 25 years. The center recently teamed with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to purchase 640 acres surrounding Elk Creek. Each entity owns 320 acres, and the entire 640 is now under a conservation easement held by Bonneville Power Association of Oregon (BPA), which operates the Hungry Horse Dam and which partnered with the Elk Creek conservation project to receive credits it needs to restore
fisheries degraded by construction of the dam.
Placement of the Elk Creek area under the conservation easement ensures that all stream habitat will be protected from any development that could interfere with the maintenance of the bull trout population. Similarly, 7,200 acres surrounding Goat and Squeezer Creeks will be managed in a manner that protects bull trout habitat, according to Alan Wood of Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP).
Unlike the 640 acres cooperatively owned by the Swan Ecosystem Center and the tribes, FWP does not own the 7,200 acres for which it holds a conservation easement. Plum Creek continues to own that acreage and Wood said the company will manage it for sustainable timber harvest. Wood said the only difference to the acreages' management under the easement is the establishment of an 80-foot buffer on either side of the Goat and Squeezer Creek floodplains. No timber harvest activities can take place within that buffer.
Despite both properties being placed under a conservation easement focused on bull trout health, both Dahl and Wood stressed that the properties will undergo management activities that maximize forest health. In addition, the right of the public to access the properties will be maintained.
Because the Goat and Squeezer Creeks conservation easement was completed with significant financial support from the USDA Forest Legacy Program, Wood said the 7,200 acres are essentially "frozen" in forest management. That is, they will be managed as harvestable timberland for perpetuity following an established sustainable forestry initiative to which Plum Creek already subscribes. That initiative conducts an independent audit of the management practices every five years to ensure compliance. In addition, Plum Creek will adhere to all other required management programs, such as a grizzly bear management effort cooperatively managed by the U.S. Forest and Fish and Wildlife Services, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Plum Creek.
Existing public access and recreational opportunities on the 7,200 acres remain the same, Wood said. Those include hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, horseback riding, cycling, berry picking and other non-motorized uses. Plum Creek's current open lands policy remains, which allows motorized recreational use on the Squeezer Loop Road only.
Recreational access will remain the same for the 640 acres comprising the Elk Creek easement, as well. However, Dahl said the center and the tribe must comprise a management plan for the 640 acres within 12 months per BPA easement guidelines. Upon approval by BPA, that management plan will allow for timber culling, thinning and harvest management if desired, as well as weed control measures. "I'm sure they'll have strict guidelines of what can be done in the riparian, streamside areas," Dahl said referring to BPA's easement requirements. Recreational opportunities could change, as well, but Dahl said she does not foresee that happening. She said the center plans to form a stewardship committee comprised of natural resource experts and community members to work with the tribe in developing the Elk Creek conservation area management plan.
Since 1999, more than 20,000 acres of Plum Creek land in the Swan Valley have been acquired or placed into conservation easements managed by the USDA Forest Service, Swan Ecosystem Center, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, FWP, Montana Land Reliance, Nature Conservancy and the Vital Ground Foundation. That number may reach between 25,000 and 32,000 acres if the Trust for Public Lands purchases up to 10,000 additional acres.
Wood said the entirety of land surrounding the Goat Creek drainage is now protected under conservation easements, and only 640 acres along Squeezer Creek remain as unprotected. FWP hopes to purchase the remaining 640 acres by December.
