Stimson Lumber Company has completed a 15-year effort to place its entire Montana timber base under permanent conservation protection, closing a 20,629-acre easement spanning Lincoln, Mineral, and Sanders counties. The Trust for Public Land, Stimson, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced the closing this week.
Final Easement Caps a Decade and a Half of Work
The state Fish and Wildlife Commission gave final approval of the purchase on Aug. 19. The closing marks the fourth easement completed by the Trust for Public Land and Stimson in Montana and brings more than 99 percent of Stimson’s roughly 130,000 acres of Montana timberland under permanent conservation protection. The parcels stretch from Libby to Superior.
The easement bars development while continuing to allow sustainable timber production. It also secures free, year-round public access across the property and to adjacent public lands, including the Wanless Lake trailhead in Sanders County, a primary entry point to the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area. The property shares 115 miles of border with U.S. Forest Service and state lands.
Sportsman and conservation groups, including the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association and the Anaconda Sportsman club, provided written and in-person support to the commission. The parcels are estimated to generate roughly 6,000 days per year of public hunting and angling use.
Funding and Conservation Value
The easement carries an appraised value of $29,293,900. Stimson donated approximately 60 percent of that figure — about $17.68 million — making the company’s contribution the largest single share of the project’s cost. The remaining funding came from the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program ($10.2 million), privately raised donations through the Trust for Public Land ($1,015,000), Avista Utilities ($250,000), and NorthWestern Energy ($150,000). No state land-board funds were used.
The protected land includes 39 miles of streams, 309 acres of riparian habitat, and 472 acres of wetlands. Streamside management protections are expected to safeguard drinking water for nearly 30,000 downstream residents. The property also conserves habitat for bull trout, grizzly bear, and Canada lynx — all listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act — as well as migration corridors used by elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and moose.
Building on Prior Easements
The final closing builds on 107,664 acres Stimson previously placed under public-access conservation easements in northwest Montana. Together, the four easements cover the company’s full Montana timber base, a milestone the company and its partners began working toward roughly 15 years ago. The Columbia Falls area and surrounding communities in the Flathead region stand among those with the most direct recreational and watershed interest in the protected corridor.
The conservation outcome was achieved without displacing timber operations, a point central to Stimson’s approach throughout the process. The easements preserve the working-forest character of the land while locking in public access and environmental protections in perpetuity.
