For residents that have grown up or lived in the Plains valley in Northwest Montana, most have a story or two of playing in the woods and mountains, especially in the Combest creek and Swamp Creek drainages.
This summer, over 7,000 acres have gone up for sale in the Combest and Swamp Creek drainages south of town (which is well in the rights of the owner). This privately owned former industrial timberland has traditionally allowed public access for multi-recreational uses and has also been used for agricultural uses such as logging and grazing.
Sanders County (like other rural counties in NW Montana) has a very high poverty rate and has also been subjected to extreme population growth with limited infrastructure and resources to accommodate the influx of people. The loss of former private industrial timberland access and the loss of agricultural land has made land a competitive commodity in an area where residents struggle to find housing and to make ends meet. The majority of the residents in our communities depend on hunting and fishing to help with food costs. With the rapid pace of development and land loss, local residents who have depended on this land for generations are now being pushed sometimes 10-20 miles out of their rural community to access lands.
Without help from our community, this land will forever be lost for public access, logging and grazing for future generations.
We are group of local citizens across all walks of life who trying to keep these lands open to the public. If you are interested in helping; please send us a message, your stories, your photos or anything you may think may help us on our journey! EMAIL US AT PLAINSPUBLICACCESS@GMAIL.COM OR FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK!!!
Plains Public Access 