FEATURED PROJECTS

Foreman Family Preserves Remote North Fork Acreage

December 2008 - The family of Helen Foreman has permanently protected, through a voluntary conservation easement with Flathead Land Trust, 225 acres of forested wildlife habitat just south of the Canadian border and adjacent to Glacier National Park. Home to bears, wolves, elk and deer, as well as seasonal cabins used by the Foreman family, the property touches Mud Lake and is

situated between the North Fork of the Flathead River and the North Fork Road. The entire property consists of 235 acres, with a Wild & Scenic River conservation easement on 10 acres of river frontage.

Margaret (Peggy) Cohn and Edward Foreman are co-trustees of the Helen C. Foreman Family Trust, and acted on behalf of all 13 heirs when they moved to preserve the land in its current condition. The Foreman family’s connection to the Flathead Valley dates back to the 1890s, and they have been local North Fork landowners since the 1940s. Helen’s uncle L.O. Vaught, after whom Glacier’s Mt. Vaught is named, purchased the homestead in the 1940s as a family summer home. “The property is very important as a center for the family,” said Peggy. “Five generations have now had the experience of learning about wilderness and wildlife conservation from spending time on the property, and share Vaught's strong feelings for the place.”

The property is primarily a mature mixed-conifer forest. There has been selective logging in the past to control beetle infestations, and the property is thinned periodically for fire control. The conservation easement prevents subdivision, although traditional uses such as timber management will continue. Edward Foreman stated that “the easement will protect the property in a way little else can,” and concluded by paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King: “Safe at last.”

To learn more about this outstanding property and see more pictures, view the full article in our Fall 2008 newsletter.

To view more projects, click here.