Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) has opened public comment on a proposal to amend the Thompson-Fisher Conservation Easement to remove 1.63 acres of developed land and replace it with 5 acres of undeveloped, upland and riparian habitat along the Little Thompson River in Sanders County near Thompson Falls, Montana.

The land exchange and accompanying amendment to the conservation easement would resolve an encroachment issue on a portion of developed land that involves seven different parcels of State School Trust Land managed by Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC). Each parcel is adjacent to the conservation easement and lies within the Thompson River valley. The DNRC parcels are leased for cabin sites and include various structures or other improvements that encroach onto the conservation easement.

Weyerhaeuser has agreed to remove the 1.63 acres of developed land from the easement and add 5 acres of undeveloped adjacent land to the existing conservation easement. This exchange would result in a net gain to the overall easement property of 3.37 acres.

The proposal’s draft environmental assessment is available for review on FWP’s website at fwp.mt.gov/news/publicNotices.

Public comments can be submitted by mail or email by 5 p.m. on March 15, 2019 to: Kris Tempel, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, 490 North Meridian Road, Kalispell, MT 59901 or [email protected].

For more information about this project or the draft environmental assessment, contact Tempel at [email protected] or at (406) 751-4573.