PART I. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED ACTION 



A. PROPOSED ACTION 



The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) is proposing to purchase approximately 

 73 acres of an island in the middle of the Flathead River just east of Kalispell, 

 Montana (Section 22, Township 28 N, Range 21 W.) (Fig 1). The purchase would 

 meet the goals of FWP's Riparian/Wetland Conservation Program, an element of the 

 Regions 's Wildlife Mitigation Program for Hungry Horse Dam, and utilize interest 

 from the Wildlife Mitigation Trust Fund. 



This property was donated to the Flathead Land Trust (FLT) on December, 1991, by 

 Dr. Earl Coriell, of Poison Montana. FLT is a community-based, non-profit, tax- 

 exempt organization dedicated to protecting wildlife habitat, open-space, and 

 traditional lifestyles in Flathead County. The FLT is not set up to own and manage 

 lands; rather, FLT's focus is on public education, conservation easements, and 

 facilitating land conservation for public interests. Revenue from this sale would 

 facilitate FLT's conservation efforts. 



The FLT is offering this tract to FWP as a bargain sale. FLT policy dictates that they 

 cannot own land due to management costs and responsibilities. Because of the 

 islands's outstanding natural and recreation values, FLT desires to transfer the 

 property to public ownership. 



B. AUTHORITIES AND DIRECTION 



FWP is mandated by public law (87-1-201) to protect, enhance, and regulate the wise 

 use of Montana's fish and wildlife resources for public benefit now and in the future. 

 Recently, the FWP Commission adopted Habitat Montana policy and plan (FWP 

 1995a) which calls for FWP to focus conservation efforts on "intermountain 

 grassland, shrub grassland, and riparian ecosystems". 



In addition, the Northwest Power Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-501) authorized the creation 

 of the Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Council (NPPC) and charged it 

 with developing a program to "protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife affected 

 by the development, operation and management" of the federal hydropower system in 

 the Columbia River Basin. Under the Northwest Power Act, the Bonneville Power 

 Administration (BPA) and FWP established an agreement that provided funds from 

 BPA for the protection, mitigation and enhancement of wildlife and wildlife habitat 

 affected by the development of Libby and Hungry Horse Dams. This Settlement 

 Agreement was signed in 1988; payments to the Wildlife Mitigation Trust Fund were 

 completed in 1994. This preliminary project proposal was reviewed and unanimously 

 approved by the Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission on August 3, 1995. The 



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