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The Swan Valley is a biologically rich coniferous forest ecosystem located between the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Mission Mountains wilderness complexes, in the heart of the Crown of the Continent ecosystem. The Swan Valley supports lynx, wolves, wolverine, grizzly bear, black bear, bull trout, elk, moose, goshawks, loons, eagles and numerous other species. The Swan is also home to a small diverse community of people ranging from homestead era descendents to more recent migrants who enjoy the valley's rural lifestyle.
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The Swan Valley is unique among Montana’s spectacular valleys in that it is home to over 4,000 glacially-derived wetlands (lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes, wet meadows, peatlands and riparian areas), far more than the average 1% found in other Montana valleys. This fact, along with its diverse forest types, makes the Swan Valley ideal habitat for an amazing array of wildlife. Rare carnivores, threatened trout, and a high diversity of songbirds and waterfowl depend upon this valley's premium habitat qualities.
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Land ownership in the Swan Valley is partitioned in a “checkerboard” pattern, a legacy of the railroad land grants in the late 1800’s. Most of the Swan Valley is publicly owned and managed either by the Flathead National Forest (green), or the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (blue). A significant portion of the valley bottom (over 70,000 acres) is owned by Plum Creek Timber Company (purple). Small private land holdings in the Swan Valley (white) are concentrated near the towns of Bigfork and Swan Lake to the north, and Condon to the south. These lands were either homesteads carved out of federal lands or parcels purchased from Plum Creek or its predecessor, Burlington Northern.
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Residents value the rural and wild character of the Swan Valley. Livelihoods in the valley include logging, log home building, outfitting, construction, real estate and outdoor recreation. Residents also work as artisans, or run small home-based businesses. A number of retired people have migrated to Swan Valley as well.
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As diverse as the people are, the Swan Valley is well recognized for its history of collaboration on natural resource issues. The Swan Citizen’s Ad Hoc Committee was one of the first citizen’s groups to initiate dialogue between loggers and environmentalists and pioneer solutions to controversial land use issues. The Swan Ecosystem Center built upon that legacy and developed strong working relationships with all of the public agencies and other major decision makers in the Swan Valley. Soon, the Swan Valley will have its first elected representation in the form of a Swan Valley Community Council, and this will add to the ability of citizens to work on the challenges that face both the community and the landscape of the Swan Valley.
Most who come to know the Swan Valley agree that this landscape is a special place… worth conserving for today’s and future generations.
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