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The Nature Conservancy in Africa - Conservation in Africa

The Nature Conservancy in Asia Pacific - Conservation in Asia-Pacific

The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean - Conservation in the Caribbean

The Nature Conservancy in Central America - Conservation in Central America

The Nature Conservancy in North America - Conservation in North America

The Nature Conservancy in the United States - Conservation in the United States

The Nature Conservancy in South America - Conservation in South America

Crown of the Continent

North Fork peaks and trees
Glacier peaks seen from the North Fork

The northern Rockies is one of the last great bastions of the grizzly bear. Development pressures in this region are increasing, threatening to drive grizzlies to mountainous “islands” and isolate Montana grizzlies from their Canadian cousins.

Mindful of these threats, conservationists on both sides of the border have been working for the last five years on an international plan to protect this wild 10-million-acre landscape known as the “Crown of the Continent.” As part of the effort, scientists are assessing the region’s biological health and have identified the importance of conserving the mostly private, low-elevation lands that connect the mountain ranges throughout the region. As a result, The Nature Conservancy of Montana, the Nature Conservancy of Canada and other conservation groups have stepped up our efforts to work with private landowners along the Rocky Mountain Front, in the Flathead, the Blackfoot Valley, Swan Valley, the greater Glacier/Waterton, Crows Nest Pass and the Elk River Valley in Canada.

But the big news is two major conservation efforts that anchor either end of the “Crown.” On the southern end, in Montana’s Blackfoot River Valley, The Nature Conservancy of Montana and a local conservation collaborative, the Blackfoot Challenge, are working to purchase and conserve up to 88,718 acres of Plum Creek timber lands. And on the Crown’s northern end, in the Elk River Valley, Tembec timber company is working with the Nature Conservancy of Canada to protect around 97,000 acres of critical wildlife habitat.

            “Projects of this scale and international significance only come about when everyone works together," said Harvey Locke, a Canadian trustee of the Montana chapter who helped assemble the Tembec deal. 

By working with timber companies and allowing sustainable resource uses while also protecting wildlife habitat, these conservation efforts recognize that people live and work in these landscapes and must be included if our conservation efforts are to ultimately succeed.