Upper Thompson Connectivity

Montana is known for its big skies and postcard-worthy landscapes, but the behind-the-scenes collaboration that protects those landscapes might also make your jaw drop.

Across the state, forests support local jobs, shelter wildlife, provide places to hunt, fish, explore, and protect the clean water that flows through the region. Amid increasing pressure from fragmentation and development, conservation easements help keep working lands working, protecting public access, and strengthening rural communities.

The Upper Thompson Connectivity project is a prime example of that work. In 2026, TPL partnered with Green Diamond Resource Company and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to conserve over 34,000 acres of working forestland in northwest Montana, the first phase of a larger effort that will ultimately conserve nearly 48,000 acres.

Hunkered near the Cabinet Mountains, the project ensures the land can be actively managed as a working forest—supporting local jobs, forest health, and wildfire resilience—while also ensuring legal public access for hunting, fishing, and recreation. The benefits extend well beyond the forest itself, protecting important headwater streams in the Thompson River drainage and habitat for deer, elk, black bear, grizzly bear, lynx, wolverine, native trout, and many other species.

Building on a growing network of conserved working landscapes in the Northern Rockies, including the Montana Great Outdoors Project, Lost Trail Conservation Area, Spirit of Spokane, and Thompson-Fisher River Valley, projects like this help ensure future generations can continue to experience this corner of Montana much as it exists today.