Mission

Flights with press, county commissioners and Blackfoot Working Group members highlighted the collaborative effort to protect areas in the Upper Blackfoot and generated media coverage.

For the past four years, residents of Lincoln, along with other stakeholders, have worked together to identify ways to improve management of public lands in the Lincoln Valley for the benefit of local residents and all public land users. The Lincoln Valley Recreation, Economic Development, and Conservation Proposal is the result of this collaborative work. It addresses issues that Lincoln community members and user groups would like resolved, provides a positive vision for the future of the Lincoln Valley, and describes a path forward.

The proposal addresses forest restoration - providing jobs, protecting forest health and improving fisheries. It establishes the Lincoln Gulch and Ogden Mountain Restoration Areas, spanning 69,000 acres, to reduce fuel loads while attempting to reestablish historical fire regimes. Forest restoration will be emphasized within these areas, consistent with protections for grizzly bear, lynx, and wolverine, to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects and restore aquatic and wildlife habitat.

The proposal also enhances recreation opportunities for both motorized and non-motorized users, conserves some of the best elk habitat in Montana and adds 16,000 acres to the Scapegoat Wilderness and establishes the 40,000-acre Nevada Mountain Wilderness. The proposed wilderness areas were carefully crafted to avoid impacting existing uses.