of the agreement include special management of four grizzly bear "linkage zones" across the Swan 

 Valley, especially during the critical spring period, guidelines and limitations on commercial timber 

 harvest operations, protection of riparian habitat and road management. Specific guidelines in the 

 agreement are summarized below. 



Plum Creek's Native Fish Habitat Conservation Plan (2000) applies to 1.4 million acres of Company land in 

 Idaho and Montana. Under this 30- year plan, habitat for eight species of native trout and salmon are 

 protected in over 1,300 miles of fish-bearing streams on Plum Creek property. The HCP contains 56 

 conservation commitments covering a wide range of activities including timber harvest, road 

 construction, stream habitat enhancement and livestock grazing; some of the objectives and guidelines 

 may well provide benefit to grizzly bears and their habitat. 



Substantial federal grants, awarded between 2001 and 2004, have also allowed the USFWS to work 

 collaboratively with Plum Creek Timber Company, MTFWP and the Trust for Public Lands, to protect 

 thousands of acres in the Thompson, and Fisher River Valleys through the purchase of conservation 

 easements. These conservation easements have helped maintain and protect important grizzly bear 

 habitat (riparian and wetland) from the threat of subdivision and development and represents the largest 

 conservation easement in Montana's history. 



More recently, Avista Corporation, The Conservation Fund, Plum Creek Timber Company and Montana 

 FWP completed a conservation agreement on more than 1,800 acres of land formerly owned by Plum 

 Creek and Genesis Mining Company. The result was the creation of the Bull River Wildlife Management 

 Area (WMA), which is to be managed by Montana FWP. The Bull River WMA was formally dedicated in 

 May 2005. 



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