BLM to hold next round of open houses on Lower Blackfoot Travel Management

MISSOULA, Mont.— Want to learn about route network planning in the Lower Blackfoot corridor? The Bureau of Land Management’s Missoula Field Office would like to hear what you have to say.

The field office will hold two public open houses April 17 and 18 to inform the public about travel planning efforts underway for the 44,000 acres of public lands in the Lower Blackfoot Watershed, which roughly covers the area from Gold Creek to Ninemile Prairie.

The April 17 open house will run from 4-6 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel, 100 Madison Street, in Missoula. The next day’s meeting will be from 4-6 p.m. in the conference room at Lubrecht Experimental Forest, 38689 Highway 200 East, in Greenough.

The BLM is continuing to evaluate roads and trails for recreation, landscape restoration, and Tribal co-stewardship opportunities. At the meeting, the field office plans to share its preliminary range of alternatives for the transportation network in the Lower Blackfoot Watershed. At this stage in the planning process, these alternatives create a range of possible considerations based on initial route review.

The input from the public at this stage in the process will be used along with an upcoming environmental analysis to determine a “proposed action” which will be shared with the public in this fall. The BLM welcomes information and opinions from the public on what kind of recreation experiences it should consider moving forward in the planning process.

For more information, contact the BLM’s Missoula Field Office at (406) 329-3914 or email the project lead, Claire Romanko, at BLM_MT_MSO_LBCTTMProject@blm.gov.