Atira Conservation partnered with Five Valleys Land Trust to protect 836 acres of open land on the Bloom Ranch in the Flint Creek Valley. This newly established conservation easement is in the south-central part of Five Valleys’ 10-county western Montana service area. Unlike neighboring valleys that have largely been subdivided, the Flint Creek Valley remains a relatively intact landscape, with its scenic mosaic of creek bottoms, rolling grasslands, productive agricultural lands and forested mountain ranges. The Bloom Ranch sits in the heart of the Upper Flint Creek Valley, near the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness and the headwaters of Rock Creek, Montana’s first “blue ribbon” trout stream.

The Flint Creek Valley provides critical habitat connectivity between the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. Recent wildlife migration models show that wildlife is beginning to reclaim their historic ranges between these ecosystems. The Flint Creek Valley serves as an essential, safe route around the urban areas of Missoula and Butte (Sells, et al.). In 2021, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks documented the first grizzly bear successfully crossing Interstate 90; this is the first sighting through the Flint Creek Valley in more than a century.

Prior to its protection, the Bloom Ranch represented a gap in the footprint of conservation lands in the Upper Flint Creek Valley, which is home to Philipsburg, a popular and growing recreation and tourism destination. The finalization of the Bloom Ranch conservation easement creates a contiguous 3-mile, 3,320-acre buffer zone around Philipsburg, enabling wildlife to safely and freely migrate across the valley while the town continues to grow. The Bloom Ranch conservation easement also protects working agricultural lands at risk of development, secures critical wildlife habitat, and provides economic, community and cultural benefits.

This conservation easement was possible due to the generosity of the landowners, and our many public and private partners.

• Property Cost: $2,425,000,000
• Atira Conservation Funding: $70,000