The Crown enfolds over 10-million acres of some of the most intact wildland on the entire continent. All the plants and animals seen here during the expedition of Lewis and Clark still survive here. It is essential home range for wildlife and a key intersection connecting vital habitat in Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall and the Salmon-Selway wilderness areas.
Threats
Subdivision & development are the greatest threats, especially in the river valleys connecting the higher elevation lands.
Wildlife
This region is refuge for wildlife that's threatened elsewhere, including grizzly bears, Canada lynx, fisher, gray wolves and bull trout.
Location-based Strategies
The Montana Legacy Project Along with our partner, The Trust for Public Land, we've purchased more than 310,000 acres of land in the Crown from the Plum Creek Timber Company. This helps eliminate the patchwork of public and private ownership that can fracture habitat. We're also protecting the vital links to habitat needed by wildlife for food, breeding and adapting to the impacts of climate change.
On the North Fork, we have helped stop the gold and coal mines that threatened the headwaters of the extraordinary Flathead River system that helps define the Crown.
Along the Rocky Mountain Front, healthy prairies and wetlands support a vast treasury of wildlife. Our partnerships with local ranchers have preserved this land for both wildlife and family agriculture.
In the Blackfoot Watershed, 30 years of pioneering community-based conservation and restoration have preserved a vital low-elevation valley and wetlands for both wildlife and people.
Goals and Approach
- Developing community-based partnerships to respond to intensifying development pressures
- Providing landowners with stewardship and conservation tools, including conservation agreements.
- Landscape-scale protection and restoration that improves habitat and benefits local communities.
