BONNER, Mont., May 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Montana Senator Max Baucus today said he expects Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. , the Trust for Public Land, and The Nature Conservancy to come to an agreement on a large-scale conservation project aimed at protecting critical western Montana wildlife habitat and working forests.
Although nothing is set in stone, yet, Baucus and representatives from the three entities today held a news conference on the banks of the Blackfoot River to announce their commitment to pursue a project that would boost access to hunting and fishing in the state. Baucus said the project has the potential to be the largest land conservation project in American history.
Baucus, chairman of the powerful U.S. Senate Finance Committee, included a new Forest Conservation Bonding provision in the recently enacted Farm Bill that will provide $250 million for land conservation programs. The conservation groups will need to apply for the funding through the U.S. Treasury Department.
"This is big," Baucus said, "really big. We are talking about protecting thousands of acres of Montana forests for hunting and fishing. We're an outdoors people. We hunt, fish, take our kids snowmobiling or camping. I can't possibly define how important this project could be to Montana's outdoor heritage, our state's economy, and our way of life."
The parties will focus on large blocks of private land which abut U.S. Forest Service land, parcels whose long term conservation will benefit fish and wildlife while also providing unprecedented public access. Consolidation of so-called checker-boarded, private-public lands can lessen the costs and threat of wildfire to communities, while promoting long-term forest health. In addition, the parties are committed to providing sustainable timber harvest that will provide jobs for communities.
"We owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Senator Baucus for providing us with this opportunity to work with our local communities and agencies in coming up with a strategy for employing these new funds for forest conservation," said Kat Imhoff, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Montana.
"Plum Creek has a strong history of conservation and is pleased to have another opportunity to partner with The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land to work toward conserving more lands in Montana," said Rick Holley, president and chief executive officer of Plum Creek. "As a large landowner, we recognize that some of our lands have "special" values to the people who live in communities that surround them. So we continue to seek opportunities to protect lands that have visual, historic, recreation, wildlife habitat and other significant attributes, through long-term conservation sales, easements and land exchanges."
"We are grateful for how hard Senator Baucus worked to create this new funding mechanism which will help us expand our forest conservation efforts in Montana," said Eric Love, The Trust for Public Land's Northern Rockies Director. "This isn't just about saving land; it's about preserving a way of life."
In Montana, Plum Creek sold 89,000 acres of land to The Nature Conservancy as part of the Blackfoot Community Project. The Conservancy is now re-selling those lands to public and private buyers, with conservation agreements.
The Trust for Public Land and its partners have conserved more than 25,000 acres of land in Montana's Swan Valley, including key habitat for endangered fish and wildlife, and 142,000 acres of Plum Creek timberland in the Thompson-Fischer drainage, where conservation easements allow for continued timber production while protecting the area's natural and recreation resources from forestland conversion.
Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at http://www.nature.org/. Visit The Trust for Public Land on the Web at http://www.tpl.org/. Visit Plum Creek on the Web at http://www.plumcreek.com/.
