The Hub Conservation Area - Montanans 4 Safe Wildlife Passage

valuable montane parkland habitat. This couldeventually lead to a catastrophic fire.Noxious Weeds are an indirect threat in thislinkage. More insidious is the use of goatsand sheep on public lands to control noxiousweeds because domestic sheep and goatstransmit diseases to bighorn sheep which in turncauses high mortality among the wild sheeppopulations.Conservation OpportunitiesMost of this linkage area is within the HelenaNational Forest or under Bureau of LandManagement ownership;The public commenting process for forestmanagement activities is a great opportunity forinfluencing how wildlife connectivity is factoredinto forest management. Main considerations forwildlife connectivity under these public landsmanagement planning efforts include how tomanage recreational needs with wildlife needs,how to restrict or divert access and travelroutes across wildlife corridors, and how todetermine the suitability and capacity of grazing(particularly by domestic sheep) within publiclands.There may be opportunities for downsizingthe number of domestic sheep on publicallotments in the Johnny’s Gulch area. Thereis a memorandum of understanding betweenthe Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management,and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks towork together as partners to appropriatelymanage the mountain range. Ensuring that thispartnership happens may facilitate the longterm sustainability of wildlife populations in thislinkage area.There may be an opportunity to expand publicownership in the drainage upstream fromthe Greymont mine; a great opportunity forsecuring wildlife habitat. There have alreadybeen some land exchanges between the ElkhornWildlife Management Area and the MariettaMine (facilitated by the Rocky Mountain ElkFoundation).There are ranch owners that may be open toworking toward promoting wildlife stewardshipand conservation practices.There are some initial efforts at a citizen’sworking group in the Clancy area.Elkhorn Ridge - Photo by Phil Knight93