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http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/03/17/news/state/18-mining.txt
Earmarks fund conservation
Among land deals is one near park to prevent further mining on site
By BRETT FRENCH
Of The Gazette Staff
Mike Holland doesn't believe his aunt is rolling over in her grave.
Margaret Reeb always wanted her land next door to Yellowstone National Park's northeastern border to be mined, but Holland said he thinks she'd understand his and his brother Randy's decision to protect the property. "At this point in time the issues have totally changed between what my aunt was dealing with and what I'm dealing with," Holland said.
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion budget that included an earmark of $4 million for the first phase of the Reeb property purchase, one of more than 8,000 earmarks that totaled $7.7 billion.
The funds are one of four Montana earmarks that will go to land acquisitions and conservation easements.
Storied history
Born in Butte a miner's daughter, Reeb taught school before retiring to Livingston. Her father worked and owned land near Henderson Mountain, just outside Cooke City, known as the New World Mining District.
Through thrift and persistence, Reeb over the years increased her land holdings in the area from the initial parcel she inherited from her father. All told, she collected 1,471 acres scattered in a patchwork across the old gold-mining district stretching from Daisy and Lulu passes to Goose Lake and near Lake Abundance, including a portion of land inside the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness at the headwaters of the Stillwater River.
"She acquired a lot of the land from back taxes and some from direct purchases," Holland said. "Almost all of the mining claims she had she arrived at through a lot of research."
Back in 1996, when the federal government crafted a deal to halt potential gold mining by Crown Butte Mining Co. in the area, Reeb became a national figure after being excluded from the negotiations, even though her property made up a sizable chunk of the lands to be mined.
Angry, she vowed to never sell her land and became the subject of national news articles and editorials. Her name was invoked during a statement to the U.S. House against the federal buyout by then-Rep. Rick Hill, R-Mont.
Final chapter
Henderson Mountain still stands, scarred to a moonscape in places by past mining; Reeb has died. Holland respected his aunt's wishes while she was alive, but has since agreed to work out a deal to sell the acreage he and his brother inherited from their aunt to The Trust for Public Lands. The Trust, in turn, will sell it to the Gallatin and Custer national forests at an estimated purchase price of $8 million.
"This whole thing is putting the final chapter on a story that goes back decades," said Alex Diekmann of The Trust for Public Lands. "It's not often that you find a project with this rich of a history."
Now that a portion of the money has been approved, the land will be appraised and negotiations will begin on which parcels to purchase and at what price. The rest of the money will have to come later.
"This is a huge boost to the completion of this project," said Marna Daley of the Gallatin National Forest. "We're thrilled. It's getting harder and harder to fund land acquisitions in the current budget situation."
Meeteetse Spires
Also in the 2009 budget is a $1 million earmark for the purchase of a portion of 560 acres of private land near the Meeteetse Spires, south of Red Lodge. The property is surrounded by BLM and Forest Service land, portions of which are considered sacred by the Crow Tribe.
The deal is being negotiated by The Conservation Fund. The land would be managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Its surrounding BLM acreage has been designated an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, partly due to the presence of the plant Shoshonea pulvinata. The perennial herb was once considered for listing as an endangered species.
The area is also home to peregrine falcons, and wolves once denned in the Grove Creek area.
"We already had Land and Water Conservation Fund money dedicated to that property from last year," said Jim Sparks, BLM's Billings Field Office manager. The extra allocation will bring the agency almost enough to pay for the entire purchase, he said.
Developer RLF Bighorn Properties of Colorado Springs, Colo., originally owned the property along with 8,000 other acres of subdivided property east of the Beartooth Front. But Sparks said the company has deeded the land to Grove Creek Ranch LLC, although the company is still shown on the state land ownership map as the property's title holder.
The acquisition was still being negotiated, according to Gates Watson of The Conservation Fund.
The Front and Swan
Another $1 million earmark has been designated for the purchase of perpetual conservation easements by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along the Rocky Mountain Front northwest of Great Falls. The easements would conserve wildlife habitat on private lands along the Front from willing sellers.
The easements target 170,000 acres of private land between Birch Creek and the South Fork of the Dearborn River.
The purchases would protect lands adjacent to other critical wildlife habitat including state wildlife management areas, The Nature Conservancy's Pine Butte Swamp Preserve and the Boone and Crockett Club's Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch.
"That's the major purpose of the easement, to protect corridors between private and public lands along the Front," said Gary Sullivan of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
He added that the agency has a landowner list of about 25 offering more than 90,000 acres for protection.
In addition, $2 million was earmarked for 320 acres in the North Swan River Valley under the Forest Legacy Program. The purchase is the final acquisition in the valley, completing the purchase of more than 9,200 acres at a cost of $15.57 million in federal funds and $8.7 million in other payments.
Since 2000 the Forest Legacy Program has protected just shy of 170,000 acres statewide. The cooperative program between the Forest Service and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks conserves working forests to protect traditional uses and fish and wildlife habitat.
Common ground
Diekmann said negotiating the purchase of the Reeb land after its tumultuous history was all about finding common ground with the Holland brothers.
"They, in the end, think the property should be in public ownership," he said.
Holland, who talks lovingly about the beauty of the property, said it was important to protect the area from further development, even though his aunt dreamed that it would one day be mined again.
"I feel we made the best choice for the use of the land," Holland said. "I think it's a very special place. I'm excited that other people can enjoy it."
Contact Brett French at french@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1387.
