The Hub Conservation Area - Montanans 4 Safe Wildlife Passage

Garnets. The Clark Fork River Corridor hasabundant chokecherries, providing great latesummer and fall habitat for bears. There was abear captured in a river bottom near Drummondsouth of Carten Creek. Cottonwood Creek inthe Garnets and Gold Creek in the Flints areconsidered important habitat for grizzly withinthis linkage area.Wolves move north-south through the linkagearea between the Flint Creek Range and theGarnets. In the area between Hall-Helmville-Alice Creek, wolves show up frequently butpacks cannot be sustained for more than a fewyears because of recurrent conflicts. Currently,there is a small pack ranging between Hall andGarrison, particularly around Douglas mountain.Mountain Lions move between Garrison andGold Creek.Wolverine: They are present in the Garnets; butthey may be relatively isolated in this range.Lynx: The Garnets are occupied lynx habitat,specifically in the spruce-fir habitat of thelinkage area. From the Placid Creek to UnionCreek/Helmville area south, the lynx habitat isnot as suitable, and their occupancy would be atlower levels.Pronghorn: There is a herd that moves throughthe valley between the Kleinschmidt Flats inthe north and Drummond and Garrison southof the linkage area. The pronghorns winter inDrummond and Garrison.Elk: The east Garnets (Hoodoo Mountain area)have at least two separate elk herds and theirnumbers are increasing.Moose: The east Garnets-Hoodoos are importanthabitat for moose.Conservation ThreatsDevelopment: There is high potential forsubdivision development in this linkage area,particularly along the Clark Fork River, whichcould affect ungulate winter range, andbetween Garrison and Drummond. Highway 200is also an area where there could be increaseddevelopment. The Lincoln area is starting todevelop; this town is essentially within a wildlife109corridor, and increased development will likelylead to more conflicts between wildlife andhumans. In particular, the south side of theLincoln area should be addressed, as it liesoutside of the official grizzly bear recoveryzone. There is also a resort development aroundGarrison Junction.Highways: Animal-vehicle collisions are athreat; wildlife must cross I-90 as they movenorth-south across this linkage area. Thehighest amounts of road kill occur between GoldCreek and Garrison (particularly carnivores inthis area). The east Garnets are also heavilyroaded, fragmenting forest habitat. Anotherarea where animals crossing roads frequently iseast of Helmville along Highway 141.Trapping/Poaching: By catch of lynx in trapsmeant for other furbearers is an issue in theGarnets. One-third of all known lynx mortalitiescome from poaching in this area.Weeds: Noxious weeds (leafy spurge,Dalmatian toadflax, and spotted knapweed)are problematic in this linkage area. In someareas, elk winter range is especially affected byspotted knapweed, which the elk avoid.Conflict: Grizzly bears and wolves have comeinto conflict with humans around the BlackfootValley.Conservation OpportunitiesA cooperative road management group is tryingto keep road density down. An existing weedadvisory group is tackling noxious weed issues.The Blackfoot Challenge is a cooperativeconservation effort that is occurring to the northof this linkage. There may be opportunitiesto update that conservation group with thisinformation, which could have a positive effecton conservation in this linkage.There are conservation easements on privateranchland near Gold Creek.