Stretching along the axis of the Rocky Mountains between the Canadian Central Rockies and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Crown of the Continent includes treasured places like Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. The landscape ranges from rolling prairies to steep mountain walls to wide glaciated valleys. It represents a diverse human landscape, including the progressive urban center of Missoula and more traditional communities in the rural areas to the north. Residents of the region are proud of their rugged landscape and its role as a key south to north wildlife corridor.

Funding within this region extends north from the urban center of Missoula, Montana and Missoula County's Blackfoot River drainage to the Elk and Flathead watersheds in British Columbia. Our goal in the region is to provide support for efforts to bring diverse communities together as they plan for preserving the natural heritage of their region.

Our specific goals for the Crown of the Continent

• Increased protection of wildlife linkages from the High Divide to the Crown of the Continent ecosystems and increased community engagement in the protection of those linkages

• Protection of wildlife habitat from energy development through permanent protection as parks or Wilderness areas, or through designation for special management by provincial, state or federal governments

• Successful implementation of the Montana Legacy Project, permanently protecting and conserving 310,000 acres of some of the most ecologically important landscapes remaining in North America. (This land was previously owned by Plum Creek and is being purchased in the largest private conservation transaction in U.S. history through a public-private partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the State of Montana.)