The Hub Conservation Area - Montanans 4 Safe Wildlife Passage

with mountainous wet meadows and ripariancorridors. Biologists describe declines in moosepopulations for unknown reasons. More recordsof moose occur west of the Continental Divide,with low numbers of moose occurring east of theDivide in small patches of suitable habitat. Theanomaly to this was in the southeastern Hub,were there were notable moose populationsoccurring in the mountainous complex of theAbsarokas, Gallatins, and Madisons.Mountain goat populations were described by afew biologists as being in small, isolated, ruggedmountainous areas. Like bighorn, they weredescribed as occurring in areas of the Hub thatprovided high elevation alpine and sub-alpinecrest habitats in the summer, such as the BigBelt Mountains.Population and EconomicsThe Hub is a region in transition. Within thisregion are four cities with more than 30,000residents: Butte, Bozeman, Helena, andMissoula. These cities are connected by aninterstate and highway system that comprisea large parallelogram shape- Interstate 90connects Bozeman, Butte, and Missoula.Interstate 15 connects Helena to Butte, andHighway 200 connects Helena and Missoula.Much of the Hub is still dominated by anagricultural economy. Farmers grow dry landcrops of barley, hay, wheat and alfalfa, andranchers raise beef cattle and sheep. Ranchersoften graze cattle and sheep on public landallotments in the summer, bringing them tovalley-bottom winter range in the fall. Conflictoccurs when wild carnivores threaten livestockgrazing on public lands in the summer, or targetanimals concentrated on winter range. Conflictalso occurs with wild ungulates that competewith cattle and sheep for forage on winterrange. While records of carnivore depredationindicate that wolves and bears are a threatin some cases, biologists indicated that muchof the social intolerance appears to be moreculturally based.The communities surrounding the four citiesare experiencing high amounts of exurbandevelopment. Traditionally, private lands wereseries of ranches and large farms that comprised25a lot of open space. Under this scenario, landuse regulation was not as necessary sincehuman density was very low. Now, with rapidpopulation expansion, areas that were onceopen landscapes are being quickly subdivided,and the need for more organized, planneddevelopment to circumvent undue damage tonatural resources is increasingly recognized.Growth and land use policies may be one ofthe best tools to maintain wildlife connectivity,and avoid conflict between humans and wildlife(for instance, it may be wise not to place asubdivision in the path of a traditional corridorused by a herd of 5,000 elk). The social cultureof the Hub has been slow to accept growthmanagement. However, this is changing, withrecent efforts by city and county commissionersin Helena, Bozeman, and Missoula to adoptprogressive growth management plans andzoning.Transportation corridors also strongly affectwildlife connectivity in the Hub. Almost theentire Hub is affected by either Interstates 15 orWest side of Castle Mountains,photo by Grace Hammond