Bismark Meadows land acquired

NORDMAN — The Vital Ground Foundation has completed a conservation acquisition of 455 acres of grizzly bear and wildlife habitat at Bismark Meadows, the nonprofit land trust announced on Wednesday.

The acreage, located on the west side of Priest Lake, will provide spring range for the Selkirk Mountains’ recovering grizzly population, which typically numbers around 30 bruins south of the Canadian border, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The low-lying wet meadow complex sees some of the area’s first spring plant growth, which offers and important food source for grizzlies emerging from their dens.

The ground also provides refuge for moose, wolverine, native westslope cutthroat and six different plant species designated as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Bismark Meadows is a resource-rich area that provides outsized benefits to fish, wildlife and plants,” said Ryan Lutey, executive director of the Missoula-based Vital Ground Foundation. “It’s a bit of a landscape anomaly where a combination of topographic and hydrologic features disrupt the regular pattern of the surrounding mountains. Kalispell and Reeder creeks filter through the meadows, which help store water and protect the water quality of Priest Lake and the drainage downstream, and several far-ranging wildlife species meet important seasonal habitat needs at this location.”

The acquisition was anchored by support from the ALSAM foundation, which receives funds from Leonard Samuel Skaggs, a wealthy Salt Lake man whose family operated a series of grocery chains.

Having previously acquired and consolidated nearly 500 acres across four adjoining properties at Bismark Meadows, Vital Ground’s new conservation purchase hinged on support from The ALSAM Foundation, according to Vital Ground. Other key contributors included the William H. Donner Foundation, Giles W. and Elise G. Mead Foundation, and numerous individual donors.

The purchase adds to Vital Ground’s larger conservation footprint in northern Idaho. Working in the area since 2001, the organization has completed nine habitat acquisitions and six conservation easements, totaling 4,400 acres of protection within the state.

Northern Idaho features prominently in Vital Ground’s guiding vision of a connected wild landscape extending from Yellowstone into Canada. The Selkirks help link vast Canadian wildlands with the Cabinet, Purcell and Bitterroot mountains of Idaho and Montana, representing a critical puzzle piece in conservationists’ goals for habitat connectivity across the region.

Simultaneously, northern Idaho is experiencing residential growth at a rate well above the national average. With the recreational hub of Priest Lake experiencing rapid development in recent years, conserving Bismark Meadows solidifies habitat security within the Selkirk Ecosystem, a crucial step toward reconnecting the area’s small grizzly population with other groups of bears.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.