Protecting Land on the West's Outstanding Rivers

With backing from GlobalGiving donors, Western Rivers Conservancy is permanently protecting land along outstanding rivers across the western United States. Your gift supports the core costs of purchasing and conserving land for the benefit of fish, wildlife and people. Your contribution is dedicated to such efforts as preserving salmon and wildlife habitat, and creating new hiking trails, boating access and recreational opportunities.

Thanks to your support, Western Rivers Conservancy has:

• Conserved a mile of Idaho’s Wild and Scenic Selway River

• Protected the last significant private inholding on a headwater tributary to Montana’s Clark Fork River

Idaho’s Wild and Scenic Selway River:

At the heart of a mosaic of protected lands in northern Idaho, Western Rivers Conservancy has conserved the 152-acre Selway River Ranch—including a mile of the Selway River and half a mile of Elk City Creek, a minor but important Selway tributary—by conveying the property to the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests.

In the Selway’s homestretch through national forest land, a small number of unprotected inholdings remain. In 2022, WRC purchased one of the most significant of these: the Selway River Ranch. We then held the property while we worked to obtain funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to convey the ranch to the national forest. This June, we did it!

The property is home to one of the finest flat, pristine meadows on the lower Selway, which makes it important for wildlife but also particularly attractive for development. By conserving the ranch, WRC and the U.S. Forest Service helped ensure the untamed character of the lower Selway River will remain forever intact.

Thanks to the Selway’s long history of conservation—it’s one of the original rivers designated under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and lies within one of the nation’s first wilderness areas— the Selway is a haven for imperiled fish like Chinook salmon, summer steelhead, westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout. The corridor is also home to Rocky Mountain elk, bighorn sheep, Canada lynx, grizzly bear and bald eagle. For people, the Selway offers one of the most remote, scenic and exciting multiday floats in
the Lower 48.

With Selway River Ranch now owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service, the agency will be able to expand conservation management within the lower Selway River corridor. Conserving this property also paves the way for the possibility of future restoration work and the development of hiking trails along a superb stretch of the Wild and Scenic Selway River

Montana’s Racetrack Creek:

In southwest Montana, Western Rivers Conservancy has protected the last significant private inholding on upper Racetrack Creek, a headwater tributary to Montana’s Clark Fork River, by conveying a 131-acre property called The Oxbows to the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.

Racetrack Creek flows clear and cold from the Flint Creek Range to the Clark Fork River, Montana’s largest river by volume. The one-mile reach of Racetrack Creek that flows through The Oxbows is framed on either side by a scenic, shallow canyon. The property is located where the creek changes from a high-altitude headwater stream to a slower meandering river. This transition zone makes for prime rearing habitat for westslope cutthroat trout and potential habitat for bull trout. The property is also a key part of a migration corridor for large animals like Rocky Mountain elk, moose and mule deer.

In addition to its superb habitat, The Oxbows lies immediately adjacent to the Racetrack Campground and Picnic Area. The site is popular during hunting season, and campers enjoy access to trout fishing on Racetrack Creek. Had the property been developed, it would have had significant impact on the campground and natural landscape.

WRC purchased The Oxbows in 2023 and then worked to obtain funding through the Land and Water Conservation Fund to convey it to the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. We are thrilled to report we accomplished this in July. Now in public hands, a pristine reach of Racetrack Creek—a stream that is just as important to folks heading into the Flint Creek Range as it is to moose hiding out along the creek— will forever remain intact.

Conclusion

The Selway River and Racetrack Creek projects are just some of our recent projects. WRC currently has nearly 30 active projects in seven states. With the support of GlobalGiving donors, Western Rivers Conservancy is expanding our efforts to protect riverlands for fish, wildlife and people.

We love to hear from our supporters. Please contact Anne Tattam at 503-241-0151, ext. 219 (or atattam@westernrivers.org) for further information. Thank you.

• Western Rivers Conservancy: Project Photos (PDF)