Swan Ecosystem Center Anne Dahl, President/Secretary Swan Ecosystem Center

n the Swan River Valley, residents are and Salmon Prairie with the Flathead Val- Swan Ecosystem Center has an office and Itaking an active role in the steward- ley. About 900 people live here, many as visitor center in the U.S. Forest Service ship of their forested landscape, led by seasonal residents. Condon Work Center, where community Swan Ecosystem Center (SEC), a nonprofit members meet with agency representatives community-based group. SEC organizes Traditionally a forest-dependent economy, to share knowledge and develop innova- partnerships and works collaboratively for people in the Swan Valley are employed as tive conservation programs. As a result, the sustainable use and care of the Valley’s loggers, log truck drivers, school teachers, SEC employs the backcountry rangers who heavily forested public and private lands. building contractors, and in the lodging work in the Mission Mountains Wilderness and outfitting businesses. Increasingly, and the Swan Range each summer. SEC The Swan River flows north from its the economy has become dependent on offers workshops and provides grants for headwaters near Grey Wolf Lake in the retirees who earned their income elsewhere landowners to reduce forest fuels, treat tree Mission Mountains Wilderness to Swan but moved here because of the wild and insects and disease, protect wetlands, and Lake, eventually emptying into Flathead scenic beauty. Longtime residents and new- control noxious weeds on their property. Lake. This narrow, glacier-carved valley comers alike are invested in the land and SEC also helps to restore forest roads to is framed on the east by the Swan Range are willing to work cooperatively with the reduce sedimentation to lakes and streams. and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and to public agencies that manage land, wildlife SEC does all of this work with the For- the west by the Mission Mountains Wilder- and water quality in the Valley. est Service and other federal and state ness. Hundreds of lakes and wetlands are agencies. scattered throughout the valley, providing People volunteer to work alongside forest- exceptional habitat for a full complement of ers and biologists to protect forests, wildlife, Swan Ecosystem Center’s education pro- native plant and animal species indigenous water quality, a timber-based economy, and grams for children and adults are aimed at to the Flathead Watershed, including grizzly a rural way of life. Recently Swan Eco- preparing people to be good land stewards bears, bull trout and more rare plants than system Center joined forces with other and to effectively interact with public land anywhere else in Montana. nonprofits to protect 66,000 acres of Plum managers. Students in the weekly After Creek Timber Co. land in the Swan Valley. School Club learn about wildlife, native Most of the land is managed by the Flat- As part of the Montana Legacy Project, plants, noxious weeds and forestry. Stu- head National Forest and to a lesser extent these lands will be added to the Flathead dents volunteer to monitor water quality. by the Montana Department of Natural National Forest and Swan River State For- At Fish Camp, they learn about fish habitat Resources and Conservation. Private est, where they will continue providing rich and have fun catching fish. An annual “Liv- residences and a scattering of commer- habitat for wildlife, forest jobs and public ing in the Swan” workshop is designed to cial enterprises are found near the river opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, help landowners maintain their property’s and along Montana Highway 83, which and horseback riding. natural amenities, while reducing the risk connects the small communities of Condon of wildfire and realizing some economic gains. People in the Swan Valley have found ways to care for the land by elevating their knowledge and combining re- sources through partnerships. Source: Swan Ecosystem Center, 2009 Source: Swan Ecosystem Center,

Residents working with the U.S. Forest Service to design a salvage timber sale to remove beetle killed trees in the Swan Valley. The bear grass was at its peak.