The Conservation Registry

The Cabinet-Purcell Wildlife Linkage Initiative is an endeavor to seek out strategic conservation opportunities (fee title acquisitions and conservation easements) on private lands in northwest Montana (as well as nearby northern Idaho) within wildlife linkage zones.

Vital Ground is currently (2011) fundraising to secure its first two land acquisitions within grizzly bear/wildlife linkage zones in northwestern Montana through the Initiative. The projects were identified by the Private Lands Working Group, an international team of NGOs, wildlife agencies, and wildlife biologists. In the U.S. these are Vital Ground, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MTFWP); in Canada these are Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) and the Trans-border Grizzly Bear Project.

The two properties rank highest due to: 1) their current availability on the open real estate market; and 2) their ripeness for development if sold to non-conservation buyers and the subsequent threat of linkage disruption and wildlife displacement. The first property is located in the northern tier of the USFWS Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recover Zone along US Highway 2, less than one mile southwest of the Yaak River-Kootenai River confluence. The second property is located just south of the Recover Zone near Montana Highway 200, 2.5 miles northwest of the Clark Fork River-Bull River confluence. Both properties adjoin Kaniksu National Forest lands.

The long-term outcomes/benefits of this and ongoing work in the region include but are not limited to facilitating:
• The growth of the core Cabinet-Purcell grizzly bear populations;
• Movement, interaction, and dispersal of grizzly bears to and between other ecosystems (Selkirk, Cabinet-Yaak, Selway-Bitterroot);
• Trans-border (US/Canada) grizzly movement and genetic interchange;
• Recover of grizzly bear populations in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones;
• Natural grizzly bear recolonization of the Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem (western Montana and central Idaho);
• Enhanced protection of the region’s wild character; and
• Promoting a tenable coexistence between human residents, grizzly bears and other large carnivores.

The Cabinet-Purcell Wildlife Linkage Initiative has broad transferability to wildlife conservation, particularly in landscapes with mixed ownership or where trans-border or trans-boundary stewardship is desired. The Initiative has direct applicability to states in the Intermountain West and provinces of Western Canada where development and agricultural activities overlap with carnivores. Those that stand to best utilize this work will be partnerships involving land-based conservation NGOs, private landowners, wildlife management agencies, watershed groups, and agricultural interests.

Funding

Vital Ground has placed purchase options on the two properties and has until year-end 2011 to secure the $1.4 million required to purchase and steward the lands for the benefit of grizzly bears and other wildlife.

Primary motivations:

Conservation Mission

Operating as a land trust, the mission of The Vital Ground Foundation is to protect and restore North America's grizzly bear populations by conserving wildlife habitat.

Primary goals:

Negotiate and acquire Rice Draw wildlife linkage property.

Progress:

Purchase option in place as of January 2011.

Negotiate and acquire Yaak Mountain wildlife linkage property.

Progress:

Purchase option in place as of January 2011.

Consistent with plans:

State Wildlife Action Plan

The Cabinet-Purcell Wildlife Linkage Initiative supports grizzly bear conservation strategies outlined in the Grizzly Bear Management Plan for Western Montana (2006).

Species Recovery Plan

The Cabinet-Purcell Wildlife Linkage Initiative supports grizzly bear conservation strategies outlined in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' (USFWS) Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan (1993).

Targeted habitats:

• Forests and Woodlands
  • Conifer Forests
  • Mixed Hardwoods and Conifer
• Wetlands and Riparian Habitats
  • Forested or Shrub Wetlands and Swamps
  • Lowland Riparian Forests and Shrublands
  • Marshes, Bogs and Emergent Wetlands

Targeted species:

• Brown Bear Ursus arctos

Is the success of this project's actions being monitored?   No/Unknown