MISSOULA – Montana received a $4 million federal grant to purchase a 9,300-acre conservation easement to protect fish and wildlife habitat in the northwestern corner of the state.
Stimson Lumber Co. is placing the development restrictions on some of its land near Troy, in Lincoln County.
The grant was announced Wednesday by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and was awarded through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Troy easement is adjacent to another 18,700 acres of Stimson land that the company has offered to sell. The Trust for Public Land is negotiating that $16 million project, which has been endorsed by the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.