A new landmark conservation easement will protect 5,300 acres in the Big Belt Mountains, Prickly Pear Land Trust announced Friday.
Avalanche Corp., on behalf of the Fred and Ramona Des Rosier Family, has entered into the conservation agreement with Prickly Pear Land Trust.
This is the first conservation agreement off reservation lands in Montana to “explicitly protect and perpetuate traditional practices, cultural sites, and Indigenous ceremony, formally recognizing them as aligned with preserving the land’s conservation values,” PPLT said.
The sun sets over the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness northwest of the Avalanche property in the Big Belt Mountains.
Photo courtesy of Kevin League
The Avalanche Cultural and Conservation Easement protects 5,300 acres of open land in the historical Southern Blackfeet territory. The tribe has practiced sustainable management of these lands as part of a diverse