Contacts
Jeff
Fleming - 202-208-5634
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said
today it will launch an effort to explore the establishment of a voluntary,
incentive-based easement program to conserve wildlife habitat on private land
along the Rocky Mountain Front in north-central Montana.
The proposal would examine the potential for purchasing conservation
easements, from willing sellers whose lands provide important habitat for fish
and wildlife species on the Front.
"The Service and private landowners are
finding common ground in Montana," Service Director Steve Williams
said. "Together, we realize that
protecting important fish and wildlife habitat and maintaining working ranches
go hand in hand. Conservation
easements are an effective, proven approach to accomplishing both of these
objectives."
The Service has successfully used its
conservation easement program to work cooperatively with private landowners to
conserve nearly 60,000 acres in the Blackfoot and Centennial Valleys of western Montana.
This approach enjoys broad support from hunters, anglers, landowners,
and Montana's congressional delegation. The Rocky Mountain Front has long been
recognized as one of the nation's most significant wildlife areas, and
expansion of the Service's conservation easement program there would provide an
important means by which to conserve the Front's outstanding resources.
The Rocky Mountain Front is situated at the
intersection of the western edge of the
Northern Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. Diverse habitat types such as
mid-grass prairie, foothills prairie, montane forest and alpine tundra occur in
close proximity to one another, resulting in a rich mix of animals and plants.
Nearly every wildlife species described by Lewis and Clark in 1806, with the
exception of free roaming bison, still exists on the Front in relatively stable
or increasing numbers.
Under the proposed program, the Service
would seek to purchase conservation easements from willing participants within
a geographic area lying west of Highway 89 and north of Highway 200 to the
Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements between landowners
and government agencies (or qualified conservation organizations) that restrict
the type and amount of development that may take place on a property in the
future. Service easements
typically prohibit subdivision and development activities but generally allow
for continued agricultural use. No
fee title or outright purchase of private land would occur under this proposed
conservation effort.
Beginning in November 2004, the Service will conduct an
environmental assessment (EA) to analyze the potential impacts of a
conservation easement program on the Front. A key initial phase of the EA is the
scoping phase, during which the Service will work with county commissioners,
the State of Montana, conservation organizations,
landowners, and other individuals to collect additional information about the
Front, wildlife and wildlife habitat, and the potential impacts of a
conservation easement program there.
Following scoping, the Service will complete the EA, the outcome of
which will determine whether the Service should proceed with the proposed
conservation easement program.
The U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for
conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their
habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages
the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544
national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special
management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery
resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency
enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages
migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries,
conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and
Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also
oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions
of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and
wildlife agencies.