The Montana Legacy Project – Environmental groups log former Plum Creek lands for sake of preservation, access

The bugle of elk and the howl of chain saws mingle along Fish Creek Road, where one of the nation’s biggest private-public land deals is under way.

The summer has been traumatic for some rock climbers, who’ve found one of their favorite outcrops scarred with logging cuts. It’s been a relief for loggers who are back at work in tough economic times. And it’s been a conundrum for conservation groups, whose "protecting nature, preserving life" motto now involves becoming a timber company.

The land is part of a checkerboarded mix that once belonged to Plum Creek Timber Co. Last year, the company agreed to sell 310,000 acres of its forest holdings to The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Lands in a three-phase deal known as the Legacy Project http://www.themontanalegacyproject.org/.

By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_b398c586-a5a0-11de-b938-001cc4c002e0.html