There are three large land deals on the agenda for the meeting this Thursday for the FWP Commissioners. Of the three, the most expensive is the 320 acres in the Fish Creek area, costing $1.4 million. Fish creek is located northwest of Missoula and is a tributary to the Clark Fork River. The land already borders the state and forest land, so would it increase the Fish Creek Wildlife Management Area. This area is a very important forest in that it supports mule deer, moose, elk, lots of white tailed deer along with some of the best fishing around Montana. It also is habitat to the bull trout and west slope cutthroat trout.
The funds for an acquisition like this one would come from the federal Pittman Robertson Act funds in which taxes are collected from the sale of firearms and ammunition along with the Habitat Montana Fund which comes from a fee from hunting licenses.
The second land deal includes 76.7 acres for $489,000 to preserve a section of farm and wetlands on the north shore of Flathead Lake near Somers.
Finally, the third land deal is $562,500 for 760 acres located southeast of Helmville to double the size of the Nevada Lake Wildlife Management Area.
Read the entire Billings Gazette article here: billingsgazette.com
