The Falls Creek Project protects key wildlife habitat and public recreation access to the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in northwestern Montana | Photo: Eric Ian
TROY, MONTANA | Vital Ground Foundation. May 5, 2026
Public recreation access and one of the Lower 48’s smallest recovering grizzly bear populations will benefit from a recent collaboration between public, private and nonprofit partners in northwestern Montana. Utilizing the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), The Vital Ground Foundation completed the purchase and transfer of the Falls Creek Project to the Kootenai National Forest, ensuring a conservation outcome for 160 key acres in the Cabinet Mountains near Troy, Montana.
Formerly private timberlands, the property was owned by conservation-minded individuals looking to transfer ownership but keep the land as open space with public access. The project’s landscape includes a hiking trail to one of the area’s largest waterfalls as well as access to the larger Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area.
“The landowners recognized that the public has always enjoyed access to these private lands and adjacent public lands,” said Mitch Doherty, Conservation Director for Vital Ground. “This project ensures that access will continue while also conserving an important area for grizzly bear recovery.”
Benefits for Wildlife and People
In addition to public recreation, the project ensures open space will remain for diverse wildlife that move between the Cabinet Mountain high country and lower elevations. The area is home to a diverse suite of native species including moose, elk, wolves, wolverine, native trout and a population of roughly 50 grizzly bears spread between the Cabinets and the Yaak Valley to the north. Maintaining open habitat is crucial to the slow recovery of the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly population.
The Falls Creek project will help both these bears and local residents stay safe by conserving an important habitat buffer between mountain habitat and more developed areas around nearby Savage Lake. The buffer is solidified by adjacent lands already under conservation protection from the USDA Forest Legacy Program.
Conserving former timberlands also benefits the area’s growing recreation economy. The project ensures local residents and visitors can continue to enjoy mountain biking and cross-country skiing on the Falls Creek trail network while accessing the larger expanse of public lands for hiking, fishing, hunting and other popular uses. Because of its benefits to both people and wildlife, the Falls Creek project garnered a wide range of state and local support during the process of applying for LWCF funding.
Montana senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester both endorsed the conservation effort along with the city council and mayor’s office of Troy, the Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Coalition and a broad majority of residents in the Savage Lake area, more than 20 of whom wrote letters of support.
Additional support for the project came from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Atira Conservation, onX, the Weeden Foundation and numerous individual contributors.
About Vital Ground
An accredited land trust and 501(c)(3) organization, Vital Ground conserves habitat for grizzly bears and other wildlife in the Northern Rockies. Founded in 1990 and based in Missoula, Mont., the organization also partners with communities to prevent conflicts between bears and people.