09/17/2026
Big news! Missoula County approved $250K in Open Space Bond funding to help protect approximately 242 acres in the lower Blackfoot River area. The project, now known as Bonner Ridge, was made possible through a partnership that included $1M in support from the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative and additional contributions from Five Valleys Land Trust.
The lower Blackfoot is an important wildlife movement corridor, allowing animals to travel across a much larger landscape. To the north, residential development has increasingly fragmented habitat and created more opportunities for wildlife to encounter roads, homes, and other hazards. Protecting land on the south side of the river helps maintain a safer route through the valley. That connectivity is part of a much bigger conservation vision of maintaining an interconnected system of wild lands and waters stretching along the Rocky Mountains from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem north toward Canada's Yukon Territory.
Now that it's protected, new owners Five Valleys Land Trust, will develop a management plan for the property that balances recreation with the wildlife values on the property. Until that plan is finalized, the property will remain closed to the public. Public access for hiking, biking and hunting will be managed on the existing roadbed through the property. The property is adjacent to other conserved FVLT property “B Hill”, Checkerboard, LLC lands owned by TNC and Milltown State Park.
Photo by Tanner Rauk
