Stakeholders Complete Conservation Easement on Thompson River Timberland
The initial phase of the project, which closed July 7, secures public access to 34,610 acres of working forestland owned by Green Diamond Resource Company in Flathead and Sanders counties
By Tristan Scott
An unlikely alliance of corporate timber interests, conservation advocates, state wildlife managers, and federal grantmakers this week completed the initial phase of a land deal to secure public access and remove development rights across more than 34,600 acres of private timberland in northwest Montana’s Upper Thompson River drainage.
The diverse group of stakeholders closed on the conservation easement July 7, clearing the path for a landscape-level conservation project that allows the landowner, Green Diamond Resources Company, to sustainably manage its parcels while guaranteeing critical habitat protection and access for outdoor recreation in perpetuity. It fills in a jurisdictionally complex patchwork of public and private land from Plains to the Thompson Chain of Lakes, dovetailing with hundreds of thousands of acres of adjacent conservation efforts that have saved northwest Montana’s prized timberland from fragmentation, subdivision, and commercial or residential development.
“This project reflects the best of what conservation can accomplish when partners share a common vision,” said David Weinstein, Northern Rockies director for Trust for Public Land, the nonprofit that raised $175,000 in private funds to support the easement. “The Thompson River landscape is an extraordinary part of northwest Montana, and this project ensures its forests, wildlife habitat, watersheds, and public access will continue to benefit Montanans for generations to come.”
Completion of the conservation project’s first phase comes less than a month after the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission approved the purchase of the conservation easement. A second phase, which will conserve the remaining 13,297 acres in the project area’s footprint, will be considered in the future as funding becomes available.
Still, the easement locks in a critical landscape connection known as the Upper Thompson Conservation Easement, which is located north of Thompson Falls and Plains in Flathead and Sanders counties. The land is owned by Green Diamond Resource Company, which does business in Montana as Green Diamond Montana Timberlands, LLC. Five years ago, the family-owned timber firm acquired 291,000 acres of working forestland in northwest Montana, becoming the third owner in less than a year to take over management of one of the region’s most valuable commodities.
The property has historically been owned by mining and timber companies. But in 2020, a fire sale touched off a succession of ownership changes that cast a cloud of uncertainty over the future of the region’s timberlands, as well as the recreation and access opportunities they’ve historically afforded to hunters, hikers and anglers.
Despite the changes to ownership, public access to the property is currently allowed through short-term block management agreements and voluntary open land policies, under which the land has been managed for de facto public access for more than a quarter century. But those access agreements are not permanent, and could be withdrawn by future owners.
Until now.
The newly protected area is home to elk, moose, deer, mountain lions, black bears and a wide range of other wildlife. It also supports roughly 10,000 days of public hunting and angling use each year. With Phase 1 approved, those opportunities, and the habitat that sustains them, are now permanently protected.
“We are thrilled with the outcome of this project,” said Leah Breidinger, habitat conservation biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP). “Protecting this landscape ensures that the wildlife, the working forest and the outdoor traditions it supports will endure for generations.”
The project was made possible through a broad coalition of funding partners.
The appraised value of the first phase of the Upper Thompson Conservation Easement, which covers about 75% of the two-part project’s total acreage, is $20.56 million. Secured funding amounts and sources include: $13 million from the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, $225,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $200,000 from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and $175,000 from private fundraising coordinated by the Trust for Public Land. Green Diamond will provide just under $7 million of in-kind contribution in the form of donated land value, or roughly 34% of the conservation easement value.
Under the terms of the easement, Green Diamond will maintain ownership of the land while continuing to sustainably harvest wood products while FWP will own the easement.
In an effort to preserve the land as an asset for recreation, wildlife habitat and timber production, FWP has been working with private and nonprofit interests to stave off development pressure and furnish the acreage with permanent protections. The project is the culmination of a multi-year effort by FWP, the nonprofit Trust for Public Land and landowner Green Diamond.
This proposed easement complements other large conservation efforts in the area including the 85,752-acre Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement (FWP), the 142,000-acre Thompson-Fisher Conservation Easement (FWP), and the 100,000-acre Lost Trail Conservation Area (USFWS). The proposed project was reviewed and approved by the Montana Forest Action Advisory Council in 2021.
According to Douglas Reed, chair and president of Green Diamond Resource, conservation easements have figured prominently into the timber company’s strategy for sustainably managing their forested inventory.
“Sustainability is a field that is evolving quickly, and Green Diamond is committed to evolving with it,” Reed said in a prepared statement announcing the company’s 2025 sustainability report. “By remaining committed to sustainable forestry practices, we are positioning our business for a bright future.”
The 2025 annual report explores how Green Diamond is employing initiatives across 2.2 million acres of working forests. Green Diamond’s 2025 Sustainability Report highlights includes adding nearly 53,000 acres to phase two of the Montana Great Outdoors project, which protects large, connected landscapes across Northwest Montana.
“No one organization can tackle the challenges of sustainable forestry alone,” Reed said. “Real progress requires us to learn and work together. From collaborating with fellow forestry advocates to investing in local communities and supporting our employees’ passions for sustainability, Green Diamond is focused on durable pathways for industry growth.”