Northwest Montana Wetlands and Forest Protected for Movement by Grizzlies, Other Wildlife
NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
YAAK, Mont. – An important piece of rich wildlife habitat in Montana’s Yaak Valley will remain open space for generations to come after its landowner completed a voluntary conservation agreement with The Vital Ground Foundation this week.
Located along the Yaak River between the communities of Troy and Yaak, the 40-acre site includes the Yaak’s confluence with Meadow Creek, making it a natural movement area for a wide diversity of wildlife, including one of the Lower 48’s smallest grizzly bear populations. In addition to protecting wildlife movement, the conservation easement helps maintain the Yaak’s rural, scenic character and extends a family’s century-long legacy on the land.
“I am seeking to protect this acreage in part to honor my grandmother,” says landowner CarolAnn Berg Jackson, whose grandparents homesteaded in the Yaak beginning in 1916. “My grandfather found work with the Forest Service but died in 1941, when I was 4. The family was able to maintain ownership because of my grandmother’s strength, courage and resourcefulness. Now I hope that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will learn to love and appreciate this very special part of the world.”
Crucial Ground for Grizzlies
Surrounded by the Purcell Mountains of far northwestern Montana and British Columbia, the Yaak Valley’s diverse wildlife and limited development make it one of the wildest places in the Lower 48 states that does not benefit from the conservation protections of a national park or federal wilderness area. The Yaak is home to an estimated 25-30 grizzly bears, one of the smallest enduring populations south of Canada.
Conserving habitat in movement areas like Meadow Creek maintains an open, connected landscape. For the Yaak’s grizzlies, that is a must, as the population’s long-term survival depends on increasing its genetic diversity through breeding with bears from elsewhere. With a recent uptick in grizzly movement between the Yaak and the Cabinet Mountains to the south, conservation of habitat linkages provides resilience for wildlife against the backdrop of numerous climate impacts and region-wide development pressures.
“It’s only in the last decade or so that we’ve started to see movement from the Yaak to the Cabinets and vice versa, with a recent detection of gene flow in both directions” says Wayne Kasworm, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who has led grizzly recovery efforts in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem since 1983. “When it comes to easements and protection of private lands, we talk about things that outlive those of us that are here now. That’s an important thing for wildlife going forward into the future.”
Beyond grizzlies, the Meadow Creek area provides habitat for bull trout and Canada lynx, species listed as threatened by the Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as numerous other native fish and the region’s full suite of fauna, from wolves and wolverine to moose, elk, black bears and mountain lions.
“Anything I can do to protect these magnificent creatures I am hoping to do,” adds Berg Jackson.
Protecting Rural Character
The project site sits directly north of a 38-acre parcel also owned by the Berg family and already protected by a Vital Ground conservation easement, meaning the new agreement solidifies protection of a sizeable riparian corridor along the Yaak Valley bottom. With U.S. Forest Service lands bordering the properties on three sides, the area will serve as a crucial linkage for wildlife moving between the higher country on either side of the river valley.
By protecting the wetlands around two waterways as well as forested uplands, the easement helps maintain the Yaak’s water quality along with its enduring rural character. With other parts of northwestern Montana experiencing unprecedented spikes in their real estate markets, ensuring a conservation outcome for the Meadow Creek area will benefit wildlife and people long into the future.
“This is an exciting addition to the already-conserved Meadow Creek property to the south,” says Tanner Williams, Conservation Project Manager for Vital Ground. “Connectivity between the Yaak and the Cabinets is very important, so this is a big conservation win for wildlife as well as anyone who appreciates rugged, rural places like the Yaak.”
Under the new conservation agreement, the acres will remain undeveloped outside of a small building envelope. Vital Ground and the Berg family have already collaborated on habitat restoration efforts at the neighboring property, which will now extend through the newly-protected acres. The project furthers Vital Ground’s conservation footprint in the Yaak, where the organization’s partnerships with landowners and occasional land purchases have conserved key habitat linkages and an open landscape since the early 2000s.
Because of its importance to grizzlies and other wide-ranging wildlife, the Meadow Creek site arose as a priority in Vital Ground’s One Landscape conservation strategy, which seeks to link the Northern Rockies’ wild strongholds while protecting open space and rural character from the Canadian border to the Greater Yellowstone area. Leveraging the grizzly’s role as a conservation umbrella species, the One Landscape Initiative brings local landowners, wildlife experts and nonprofit partners together to achieve lasting protection of crucial shared landscapes.
In addition to a portion of the easement value donated by the Berg family, support for the Meadow Creek Project came from the Cross Charitable Foundation, Cinnabar Foundation and individual donors.
For more information contact:
Mitch Doherty, Vital Ground Conservation Director, 406-550-5961, mdoherty@vitalground.org
About Vital Ground:
An accredited land trust and 501(c)(3) organization, Vital Ground conserves habitat for grizzly bears and other wildlife in the Northern Rockies. Founded in 1990 and based in Missoula, Mont., the organization also partners with communities to prevent conflicts between bears and people.