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May 16, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Communications Director Steve Wagner at 800-CALL ELK, ext. 542, or swagner@rmef.org
Another 7,118 acres moved into public ownership as Elk Foundation completes Watershed Project
ANACONDA, Mont.—Mission accomplished! A complex, multi-partner, three-year project to permanently protect more than 32,000 acres of elk habitat has ended with a bold exclamation point. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation recently completed the final phase of its ongoing Watershed Project—the most ambitious land acquisition effort in organization history—by moving into public ownership another 7,118 acres along the Anaconda-Pintlar Range near Anaconda, Mont.
“This project wonderfully illustrates how the Elk Foundation loves to see conservation efforts unfold,” said Jon Fossel, interim CEO of the Elk Foundation. “It involved a willing and generous landowner, many enthusiastic agency partners, a multitude of supporters including Montana’s Congressional delegation, the responsible use of renewable resources, and permanent protection of habitat for elk, other wildlife, and people who love wild country. Perfect!”
Watershed is a diverse landscape vaulting up from willow-choked bottomlands to alpine tundra, with pine-spruce-fir forests and rugged peaks. It is home to a wintering herd of more than 300 elk. Deer, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, wolverines, wolves, lynx, bears, fishers, martens and most other fauna of the Northern Rockies also inhabit the area. This landscape helps form the headwaters of the Clark Fork River. West slope cutthroat and bull trout swim in Watershed’s clear streams and high mountain lakes.
Fossel said the area was prime real estate for development. Over time, condos and resorts likely would have spoiled its natural, wildlife and recreational values. Now those lands will remain open in perpetuity for public access, including hunting.
A grand-finale dedication ceremony is being planned for the morning of August 9, near Silver Lake. Details will be announced as the event draws nearer.
Watershed lands, totaling 32,271 acres, were acquired from YT Timber Inc., a private company, through a combination of purchases and a donation of 5,864 acres to the Elk Foundation. The conservation group then sold the lands to public agencies, brokering purchase agreements using funds from two primary sources. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks received the first acquisition (2001, 8,971 acres, $5.7 million) using a corporate mitigation settlement from Montana Natural Resource Damage Program funds. Three subsequent acquisitions (2001, 6,850 acres, $5 million; 2002, 9,332 acres, $7 million; 2003, 7,118 acres, $5.3 million) went to the U.S. Forest Service using federally administered Land and Water Conservation Funds. Combined land costs totaled $23 million.
"The state is pleased to see this worthwhile project come to completion. It will preserve high-quality fish and wildlife habitat and recreational lands. It helps mitigate injuries to similar lands caused by impacts from ARCO and its predecessors' mining and smelting activities in the upper Clark Fork River basin,” said Carol Fox, restoration program chief for the Natural Resource Damage Program.
Montana’s Congressional delegates—Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) and Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) were instrumental in garnering federal Land and Water Conservation Funds.
Burns said, "This is a great project supported by the local communities, and will benefit sportsmen, recreationists and the area in general. I'm pleased to have been a part of achieving greater access to Montana's public lands."
“This project is great news to everyone who enjoys to the pristine setting of Montana’s clear streams, flourishing wildlife, and high mountain lakes,” said Rehberg. “With so much at stake, the results are certainly worth the time and effort the Elk Foundation has invested toward a project in which I’m delighted to have played a role.”
Fossel said Baucus, who was unavailable for comment, was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the project and his efforts were greatly appreciated.
“We’ve had good partners and things have gone very smoothly over the course of this project. We’re excited that it’s now coming to conclusion,” said Tom Reilly, supervisor of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The majority of Watershed lands are now part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest, and Reilly will oversee future management.
He said, “The area will probably see significant public access, since it’s close to population centers like Butte and Anaconda. We’ll be working on a management plan that complements adjacent forestlands, and there are some real conservation opportunities at Watershed. For example, there is fairly high road density, so we may be looking at some road restoration work in the future.”
As the Watershed project unfolded over the past three years, Anaconda Sportsmen’s Club member Chris Marchion, who first envisioned the acquisition effort and brought it to the Elk Foundation, said, “I grew up hunting, fishing and hiking on that land. For most of my life it was open for public enjoyment but access was becoming more restricted. Now this project has kept a large and important ecosystem intact, and a tremendous variety of public recreation has been preserved.”
The Elk Foundation, with help from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, set up a stewardship fund to assist the State of Montana in managing its share of the Watershed property. Other key supporters emerging along the way include Deer Lodge County commissioners, several conservation and sportsmen groups, the community of Anaconda, and Ron Yanke of YT Timber. In fact, Fossel said, the project never would have happened if not for the uncommon conservation spirit and generosity of Yanke and the YT Timber staff.
"I believe this was a real win-win situation. Our company was able to utilize and manage the timber resources for the short term, and the public will own the land in perpetuity,” said Yanke.
Under a negotiated harvest plan in the acquisition agreement, YT Timber reserved the right to harvest 30 million board feet of timber from Watershed lands. Approximately 6.5 million board feet of timber are still to be harvested under this reservation.
Working together in an ambitious campaign called “Pass It On,” members, volunteers and supporters of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are conserving elk country at a pace exceeding 1½ square miles per day. Their organizational goal is to reach 5 million total acres—an area more than double the size of Yellowstone National Park—in 2005. Emphasizing permanent land protection and habitat stewardship, the Elk Foundation’s state-of-the-art mapping technology focuses the work in crucial elk winter range, summer range, migration corridors and calving grounds. To help us “pass on” an elk country legacy for future generations, visit http://www.elkfoundation.org or call 800-CALL ELK.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Communications Director Steve Wagner at 800-CALL ELK, ext. 542, or swagner@rmef.org
Another 7,118 acres moved into public ownership as Elk Foundation completes Watershed Project
ANACONDA, Mont.—Mission accomplished! A complex, multi-partner, three-year project to permanently protect more than 32,000 acres of elk habitat has ended with a bold exclamation point. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation recently completed the final phase of its ongoing Watershed Project—the most ambitious land acquisition effort in organization history—by moving into public ownership another 7,118 acres along the Anaconda-Pintlar Range near Anaconda, Mont.
“This project wonderfully illustrates how the Elk Foundation loves to see conservation efforts unfold,” said Jon Fossel, interim CEO of the Elk Foundation. “It involved a willing and generous landowner, many enthusiastic agency partners, a multitude of supporters including Montana’s Congressional delegation, the responsible use of renewable resources, and permanent protection of habitat for elk, other wildlife, and people who love wild country. Perfect!”
Watershed is a diverse landscape vaulting up from willow-choked bottomlands to alpine tundra, with pine-spruce-fir forests and rugged peaks. It is home to a wintering herd of more than 300 elk. Deer, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, wolverines, wolves, lynx, bears, fishers, martens and most other fauna of the Northern Rockies also inhabit the area. This landscape helps form the headwaters of the Clark Fork River. West slope cutthroat and bull trout swim in Watershed’s clear streams and high mountain lakes.
Fossel said the area was prime real estate for development. Over time, condos and resorts likely would have spoiled its natural, wildlife and recreational values. Now those lands will remain open in perpetuity for public access, including hunting.
A grand-finale dedication ceremony is being planned for the morning of August 9, near Silver Lake. Details will be announced as the event draws nearer.
Watershed lands, totaling 32,271 acres, were acquired from YT Timber Inc., a private company, through a combination of purchases and a donation of 5,864 acres to the Elk Foundation. The conservation group then sold the lands to public agencies, brokering purchase agreements using funds from two primary sources. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks received the first acquisition (2001, 8,971 acres, $5.7 million) using a corporate mitigation settlement from Montana Natural Resource Damage Program funds. Three subsequent acquisitions (2001, 6,850 acres, $5 million; 2002, 9,332 acres, $7 million; 2003, 7,118 acres, $5.3 million) went to the U.S. Forest Service using federally administered Land and Water Conservation Funds. Combined land costs totaled $23 million.
"The state is pleased to see this worthwhile project come to completion. It will preserve high-quality fish and wildlife habitat and recreational lands. It helps mitigate injuries to similar lands caused by impacts from ARCO and its predecessors' mining and smelting activities in the upper Clark Fork River basin,” said Carol Fox, restoration program chief for the Natural Resource Damage Program.
Montana’s Congressional delegates—Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) and Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) were instrumental in garnering federal Land and Water Conservation Funds.
Burns said, "This is a great project supported by the local communities, and will benefit sportsmen, recreationists and the area in general. I'm pleased to have been a part of achieving greater access to Montana's public lands."
“This project is great news to everyone who enjoys to the pristine setting of Montana’s clear streams, flourishing wildlife, and high mountain lakes,” said Rehberg. “With so much at stake, the results are certainly worth the time and effort the Elk Foundation has invested toward a project in which I’m delighted to have played a role.”
Fossel said Baucus, who was unavailable for comment, was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the project and his efforts were greatly appreciated.
“We’ve had good partners and things have gone very smoothly over the course of this project. We’re excited that it’s now coming to conclusion,” said Tom Reilly, supervisor of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The majority of Watershed lands are now part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest, and Reilly will oversee future management.
He said, “The area will probably see significant public access, since it’s close to population centers like Butte and Anaconda. We’ll be working on a management plan that complements adjacent forestlands, and there are some real conservation opportunities at Watershed. For example, there is fairly high road density, so we may be looking at some road restoration work in the future.”
As the Watershed project unfolded over the past three years, Anaconda Sportsmen’s Club member Chris Marchion, who first envisioned the acquisition effort and brought it to the Elk Foundation, said, “I grew up hunting, fishing and hiking on that land. For most of my life it was open for public enjoyment but access was becoming more restricted. Now this project has kept a large and important ecosystem intact, and a tremendous variety of public recreation has been preserved.”
The Elk Foundation, with help from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, set up a stewardship fund to assist the State of Montana in managing its share of the Watershed property. Other key supporters emerging along the way include Deer Lodge County commissioners, several conservation and sportsmen groups, the community of Anaconda, and Ron Yanke of YT Timber. In fact, Fossel said, the project never would have happened if not for the uncommon conservation spirit and generosity of Yanke and the YT Timber staff.
"I believe this was a real win-win situation. Our company was able to utilize and manage the timber resources for the short term, and the public will own the land in perpetuity,” said Yanke.
Under a negotiated harvest plan in the acquisition agreement, YT Timber reserved the right to harvest 30 million board feet of timber from Watershed lands. Approximately 6.5 million board feet of timber are still to be harvested under this reservation.
Working together in an ambitious campaign called “Pass It On,” members, volunteers and supporters of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are conserving elk country at a pace exceeding 1½ square miles per day. Their organizational goal is to reach 5 million total acres—an area more than double the size of Yellowstone National Park—in 2005. Emphasizing permanent land protection and habitat stewardship, the Elk Foundation’s state-of-the-art mapping technology focuses the work in crucial elk winter range, summer range, migration corridors and calving grounds. To help us “pass on” an elk country legacy for future generations, visit http://www.elkfoundation.org or call 800-CALL ELK.
