< All Press Releases

(MISSOULA, Mont.) – The Bureau of Land Management’s acquisition of 4,480 acres in the Lower Blackfoot River drainage secures permanent public access to the land. Using $3.4 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the transaction helps stitch together what had been a patchwork of interspersed public and private land.

This acquisition is within the Upper Belmont Creek landscape, 25 miles northeast of Missoula. Last November, a similar acquisition added another 7,268 acres of new public land in the Blackfoot drainage. 

The acquisition by the Missoula Field Office is aimed at securing access in the Blackfoot River Watershed on former industrial timber land. The goal is to maintain working lands including active forestry and fire-management projects that would reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires and improve the health of the forest, consistent with the goals of Executive Order 13855 and Secretary’s Order 3372. The area also offers high-quality hunting and fishing access and other close-to-home recreation opportunities in Missoula’s backyard including cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, hiking, mountain biking, and more.

“We’ve been working for several years with partners and diverse stakeholders to permanently protect and expand public access for hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation in the Blackfoot River Watershed, while reducing the threat of wildfires and providing habitat for native wildlife. This acquisition is a significant step forward in that effort, and we’re excited to see it completed,” said BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Perry Pendley.

“The BLM has been a great partner in helping TNC realize our vision of protecting public access to this land for both recreation and the economic benefit that working forests mean for local communities,” said Chris Bryant, Western Montana Land Protection Director of The Nature Conservancy, which partnered with the BLM on the acquisition. “We have worked hard to pass along this land in better shape than we received it.”

The acquisition aligns with Secretary's Order 3356, which directs the BLM and other Department of the Interior Bureaus to identify ways to expand access for hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation on agency-managed lands.

The land had been traditionally open to the public on a discretionary basis, but there was no guarantee that access would continue. By consolidating it with the adjacent public land, access for the public is secure and the outstanding recreational values of the land itself continue to be available to the public.