Swan Valley conservation plan being revised
By The Associated Press - 11/16/06
KALISPELL (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing Swan Valley land use agreements struck more than a decade ago in the face of Plum Creek Timber Co. plans to sell 10,000 acres of land for private real estate development.

The review of the Swan Valley Conservation Agreement includes an analysis of how real estate sales might impact both wild lands and wildlife.

Conservation groups have long sought the review because they said the 1995 agreement didn’t take real estate development into account. In August, Friends of the Wild Swan and the Swan View Coalition threatened a lawsuit if FWS didn’t review the agreement.

On Friday, FWS staffers announced those who signed on to the 1995 deal have drafted a revised agreement, and are in the process of taking that plan to the public. A new biological opinion — which will gauge the potential impacts of various land-use decisions — should be under way by January 2007.

The initial 1995 deal included Plum Creek, the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the Forest Service and FWS, the federal agency charged with oversight of threatened and endangered species. Its intent was to ‘‘integrate timber management, recreational management and bear management practices in a manner that is both ecologically and economically sound in a mixed ownership environment.’’

But much has changed since 1995. Grizzly bear mortality has increased and lynx and bull trout have been granted protection under the Endangered Species Act.

And most visibly, Plum Creek has embarked on a program to sell 24,000 acres of the company’s 80,000 acres in the Swan, including 10,000 for private real estate development.

‘‘We asked that land sales and development be considered in the agreement back in the 1990s, but that issue was dismissed,’’ Arlene Montgomery, program director of Friends of the Wild Swan, said in August. ‘‘Since 2002, we have been asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to re-evaluate and revise the agreement due to these changed circumstances and the terms of the biological opinion.’’

Swan View Coalition chairman Keith Hammer predicted ‘‘key habitat’’ losses if real estate development continued unchecked. The Fish and Wildlife Service, he said, ‘‘has fallen way behind the curve on this.’’

The amended agreement, Montgomery said, includes additional guidelines for land sales, firefighting and emergency road maintenance.

‘‘This revision is long overdue,’’ Montgomery said. ‘‘Finally, the increased impacts of real estate development on bears, bull trout and lynx will be addressed. We’re glad to see that the public will be involved in the revision process, and we hope that our concerns are taken seriously.’’

Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com

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