Support

UPDATE and ACTION ALERT

To all interested parties—

The Nature Conservacy and The Trust for Public Land continue their efforts to implement The Montana Legacy Project, the agreement to acquire over 300,000 acres of Plum Creek lands in western Montana. As a result of input received at community meetings and dialogue with State agencies and the Governor’s Office, there is a concerted effort to identify funding for the State of Montana to acquire approximately 111,000 acres of these lands; this is known as the Montana Working Forests Project. This is a significant opportunity for the citizens of Montana, and will be an important issue for consideration by the Montana Legislature in 2009. The Governor and Legislators need to know that you support the Montana Working Forests Project.

This project will contribute to conservation of wildlife habitat and water resources, maintain traditional public access for outdoor recreation opportunities, and help keep Montanans working in the woods and local mills. The Montana Working Forests lands would be owned and managed through the MT Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and/or the MT Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks for the benefit of all Montanans. All of the Plum Creek checkerboard lands within the Swan River State Forest would be included, and other lands will be identified.

We are asking you to write a letter in support of Montana Working Forests. The letter is specifically intended to encourage the Governor and the State House and Senate to support legislation that would provide for the $100 million of funding needed to purchase those lands included in the Montana Working Forests Project.

A few sample letter templates are available to download (see right). We encourage you to either write a unique letter using the templates as a guide, or simply insert your name where indicated and add your signature. Please type/print the your name and address below the signature, and submit your letters to Chris Bryant (Montana Legacy Project Outreach Coordinator) via email at cbryant@tnc.org, by fax to 406-721-2191, or by regular mail to:

Montana Working Forest Project
C/O The Nature Conservancy
PO Box 8316
Missoula, MT 59807

We appreciate your efforts to support the Montana Working Forest Project!

Northwest Connections
Swan Ecosystem Center