Lewistown Field Office
| Contacts: | Zane Fulbright 406-538-1923 |
BLM Begins Restoring Historic Homestead Site
The Bureau of Land Management has begun restoring the historic Wartzenluft Barn, located on the Musselshell Trail in northeastern Fergus County.
The barn, which is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, has been in need of restoration for over 20 years and this year the funding and expertise became available to complete the work. The Forest Service’s Historic Preservation Team will lead the preservation effort.
This hewn log barn was constructed before 1920 on the Edwin Wartzenluft Homestead. Today, the surviving buildings on site include the barn and a 1 ½-story hewn log house. The property came back into public ownership in 1982 as part of a land exchange.
The restoration effort is being completed in conjunction with the BLM’s commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the 1862 Homestead Act.
Work to disassemble the barn and assess the condition of the logs was completed the week of April 9-14. Beginning June 25, the BLM will begin reconstructing the barn, salvaging original logs whenever possible and replacing rotten ones with new logs hewn to match the original logs.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Lewistown Field Office 920 NE Main Street Lewistown, MT 59457