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The Blackfoot

The Blackfoot River

Why the Conservancy selected this site

This watershed, formed by retreating glaciers that left an extravagant handiwork of prairie potholes and other geologic features, contains an astonishing array of biodiversity. The pine, fir and western larch forests foster such rare species as deer paintbrush and Howell’s gumweed. Wetland complexes attract breeding and migratory birds such as sandhill cranes and black terns. Grizzly bears wander here, too, as the valley lies at the southern edge of the vast and rugged Crown of the Continent ecosystem, stretching north through Canada. In fact, the growing grizzly bear populations in this ecosystem are beginning to push south of Highway 200, making the Blackfoot corridor a critical linkage zone between the entire Crown system and the Helena National Forest to the south.

Plants

Prairie pothole country in the center of the valley supports some 600 vascular plants, nearly a third of which are found in the unique mosaic of wetlands. The salinity of these pothole wetlands varies widely, creating unique associations between water and vegetation, including seven wetlands plant species of special concern. Expanses of Drummond’s willow and a rare peatland association have also sprung from the glacial wetlands. Outside the wetlands, a three-tip sagebrush/rough fescue association is found nowhere else in the world.

Animals

Within the river's native trout fishery, the federally listed bull and westslope cutthroat trout, a state species of special concern, complete their life cycles. Bald eagles nest, rest, and forage along the river’s accommodating banks. White-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, black bear and grizzly bears frequent the landscape.

Threats

Some land use practices have destroyed thousands of acres of habitat. These include dewatering of prairie potholes, poor weed management, plowing native prairie, floodplain cultivation, and unmanaged grazing that has damaged fragile riparian zones. Subdivision and road building have further degraded the watershed. Poor timber harvest practices, alteration of stream channels, and reduced stream flow from irrigation are major threats to the fishery.

A history of protection

Luckily for this valley, a cadre of local people have been working to address these threats. In fact, this river valley enjoys a 35-year history of protection efforts by a cadre of people and groups, including the Conservancy, who care about this special place.

In the early 1970s, several local landowners called upon the Conservancy to build the foundation of what would become Montana’s enabling legislation for conservation easements. By 1975, the law was passed and, in 1976, the Conservancy accepted Montana’s first conservation easement – along the Blackfoot River. From the Blackfoot, this extraordinary conservation tool took hold across the state, so that three decades later, conservation easements now protect some 1.4 million acres of Montana.

Today the Conservancy, its partners and other private conservation organizations have conserved more than 90,000 acres in the watershed through conservation easements. Forty-seven miles of the river corridor are now under conservation easements or protected ownership.

The Blackfoot Challenge, a grassroots group made up of all the river’s beneficiaries, formally organized in 1991 to coordinate management of the Blackfoot River, its tributaries and adjacent lands. Their work expanded on the cooperative watershed projects begun as early as the late 1970s. The Conservancy supports the efforts of the Challenge, which has become nationally recognized for its conservation leadership.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has complimented this work with wetlands habitat enhancement and riparian restoration projects on more than 20,000 acres. The Conservancy has supported the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in securing land protection and enhancement monies. We've also provided technical expertise to help other organizations acquire habitat, worked with local conservation groups on conservation strategies, and worked to secure land exchanges.

These projects have accommodated the land’s traditional, compatible uses, such as ranching, farming, sustainable logging, hunting, and river recreation.

In one unique conservation agreement, the Conservancy has partnered with the E Bar L Ranch and the University of Montana's Lubrecht Experimental Forest to sustain forestry management on the ranch into the future. The Potter family instituted a management program that emphasizes leaving the best treees, while harvesting some timber to create a multi-layer of different aged trees. Forest stands are thinned and logged to maintain grassy areas and minimize insect damage and the potential for catastrophic fire. To make sure that any future owners continue these practices, the Potter family donated a conservation easement on the ranch's 4,000 deeded acres. The easement stipulates that the forest would continue to be managed in a sustainble and ecologically sound manner.

What the Conservancy has done/is doing

In '04, Conservancy and the Challenge took its conservation efforts to a grand new level. Based on a community supported plan developed by the Challenge, the Conservancy purchased 43,000 acres of Plum Creek timber lands ringing the valley. The purchase will now ensure that these lands remain in large undivided expanses. The Conservancy will re-sell some of these lands to public buyers, including the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service which own adjacent properties. The remainder of the these lands go to private buyers, mainly adjacent ranch families, with conservation agreements. Through the Blackfoot Community Project, Blackfoot residents have ensured that their valley remains rural and supports ranching, sustainable forestry, recreation and wildlife in the future.

Conservation Strategies

The Conservancy’s overall goal is to maintain 1) the natural hydrologic regime and high water quality, 2) the quality and integrity of glaciated pothole habitat, 3) sensitive or rare plant populations and communities, and 4) connections between habitats to allow animal movement within ecosystems.

In the Blackfoot headwaters area near Rogers Pass, a key linkage area for grizzlies in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem, our emphasis is on connecting unfractured, protected, low-elevation, forested habitat. Conservation scientists believe providing linkage zones allows different populations of grizzlies and other forest carnivores the greatest chance for long-term population health. Grizzly bears having access to low-elevation habitat mature earlier, have more cubs, and reproduce more often than their high-elevation counterparts.

Collaboration with the community is essential to conservation in the Blackfoot, and is the guiding premise for the Conservancy’s local efforts. Our conservation work is leveraged by cooperative relationships with the Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited, University of Montana’s Lubrecht Experimental Forest, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Plum Creek Timber Company, and the Blackfoot Challenge.