The U.S. Forest Service has announced a major land acquisition in Western Montana — the latest chapter in the Montana Legacy Project.

Northern Regional Forester Faye Krueger announced that 26,500 acres have been acquired from the Nature Conservancy, with most of the land being added to the Lolo National Forest but some to the Flathead National Forest.

“Landscape-scale conservation enhances water and air quality, improves forest health, increases resilience to infestations and wildfires and supports local economies through tourism and recreation,” Krueger said.

The $26 million acquisition was carried out through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The purchased acreage was part of the Montana Legacy Project that got underway in 2008, when the Nature Conservancy over a three-year period acquired 310,586 acres that had been owned by Plum Creek Timber Co. 

Since then, those lands have been getting formally transferred to the Forest Service; the Bureau of Land Management; the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; and some private purchasers with conservation easements.

“The latest is one of many transfers that have gone to public and private entities. It’s a rather big one,” said Chris Bryant, a spokesman for the Nature Conservancy.

Bryant said about 24,500 acres were folded into the Lolo National Forest in the Mill Creek and Six Mile Creek drainages north of Frenchtown, and the remaining 2,000 acres involved scattered parcels, mostly in the Swan Valley or near Missoula.

“This sale epitomizes the vision we had with the Montana Legacy Project, and directly supports the great investment that Americans have made for generations in conservation and the Crown of the Continent,” said Richard Jeo, the Nature Conservancy’s Montana state director. “By stitching these once privately owned parcels with the surrounding Forest Service holdings, we’re restoring the natural integrity of the land, securing habitat and links to the places animals need to feed, breed and rear their young, and where people have worked and played for generations.”

Including the acquisition announced Wedneday, the Montana Legacy Project has so far added 53,850 acres to the Flathead National Forest, mostly in the Swan Valley.

“We are very, very near completion with the land that we are hoping to transfer to the Forest Service,” Bryant said, adding that only about 320 acres of the 310,586 acres that were originally obtained by the Nature Conservancy remain to be transferred to the Forest Service.

Bryant said the average price paid by the Nature Conservancy for Montana Legacy Project lands was about $1,400 to $1,500 per acre. The $26 million acquisition announced Wednesday averages just under $1,000 per acre that was paid to the conservancy.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.