One more approval from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission next month will cement the proposed Stimson Timberland Legacy Conservation Easement.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks adopted the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) July 17 for the easement, protecting 20,629 acres in Lincoln, Sanders and Mineral counties.

Following the public comment period, Stimson asked FWP to remove 75 acres from the easement in Mineral County after a buyer interested in acquiring the parcel for mining purposes. The buyer suggested that removing the parcel from the easement would be the best long-term outcome for all parties.

FWP officials approved the request, noting the parcel is steep, with difficult access for recreationists, and is of low conservation value.

Montana FWP Region 1 Habitat Conservation Biologist Leah Breidinger said one step remains - approval by the commission at the Aug. 19 meeting. Breidinger is a FWP habitat conservation specialist. She was honored in 2025 by Kalispell-based Flathead Wildlife for her work in the 86,000 acre Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement project. 

For those who want to make a public comment, they may do so at https://fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/commission/august-2026-meeting. The deadline is Aug. 7.

The working forestland is important fish and wildlife habitat owned by Stimson Lumber Company in the three-county area.

If the easement is approved next month, all of the company's Montana timberland holdings will be under perpetual conservation easements. This group of forestlands in the Legacy Conservation Easement is the last remaining property owned by Stimson Lumber Company not currently under conservation easement in Montana.

While land developers and residential home builders may not rejoice, most Montanans and public access advocates will have piece of mind that at least 130,000 acres of private land will be open for hunting, fishing, hiking and other recreational uses such as wildlife watching.

County commissions in Lincoln, Mineral and Sanders counties have provided letters indicating their support for the easement.

The perpetual function is critical because any future landowner must abide by the terms of the current proposal.

Another important part of the plan is not charging for access to its land, something that weighs heavily on the minds of those who rely on public access for the aforementioned activities.

Barry Dexter, Resource Advisor at Stimson Lumber Company, addressed the matter at a May 12 public meeting in Libby.

“We don’t charge for non-motorized public access on our lands. For the most part, open roads will remain open on our lands. Roads in the Fisher River portion of the proposed easement are in very good condition due to the topography and road maintenance projects completed in the past,” Dexter said. 

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks would take over the property’s development rights, but Stimson would continue harvesting wood products. Dexter also pointed out that the company is doing the project of its own volition.

“We are under no duress to do conservation easements and we want to keep it open to public use,” he said. “Also, we don’t receive any state or local tax breaks to do this.”

Montana code states property taxes cannot be assessed at a lesser value due to conservation easements.

The proposed Stimson easement encompasses nearly 21,000 acres, with the largest parcel situated between U.S. 2 and the Fisher River, southeast of Libby. The chunk of forestland closes a gap in the mass of state-owned conservation easements that trail along the eastern edge of the Cabinet Mountains and was ranked as the top priority in the nation for the Forest Legacy Program for Fiscal Year 2025. The proposed project would also incorporate several smaller parcels scattered throughout the three counties. 

The Sanders County parcels are found adjacent to U.S. Forest Service land and other private land outside of Heron, Noxon, Trout Creek and Thompson Falls.

In Mineral County, Stimson land included in the proposed easement range from near Haugan to Lozeau.

Of immediate and future concern, the project area is privately owned and could be subdivided into as many as 518 parcels with minimal residential subdivision review, according to the Environmental Assessment.

The assessment also reported the population in the affected counties increased during the years 2020 to 2024, with Lincoln, Mineral and Sanders counties growing by 12.7%, 14.7%, and 12.1%, respectively.

About 17,533 acres (85%) of the project area are within 5 miles of Interstate 90, Highway 200, or Highway 2 and are vulnerable to development considering nearby access and proximity to fast growing communities.

Montana FWP wildlife biologist Sam Martinez said the Fisher River section is particularly critical because of the year-round habitat and travel corridor for elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer and moose as well as critical habitat for threatened species such as bull trout, grizzly bear and Canada lynx.

Paying for the conservation easement, valued at $29.4 million, is largely coming from $17.7 million that Stimson is contributing. Another $10.2 million is coming from the U.S. Forest Service, money it gets from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The fund receives a portion of royalties energy companies pay the government for extracting publicly owned offshore oil and gas.

The Trust for Public Land coordinated raising about $1 million of private fundraising to support the public funding and the landowner donation.

The national trust has helped conserve more than one million acres in the Northern Rockies over the past 20 years. The organization’s goal is to conserve an additional 300,000 acres over the next three years.  

The proposed conservation easement would complement conservation easements on adjacent lands that also support local growth policies including the 85,752-acre Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement (FWP), the 142,000-acre Thompson-Fisher Conservation Easement (FWP), the 49,584-acre Kootenai Forestlands Conservation Easement (FWP), and the proposed 47,907-acre Upper Thompson Connectivity Project (FWP).