Comment period on Circle R River Ranch EA extended

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BILLINGS — Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has extended the deadline for commenting on its Circle R River Ranch acquisition environmental assessment until 5 p.m. May 16.

The deadline was extended by four days at the request of adjacent land owners who attended a public meeting on the EA Thursday night and asked for more time to comment.

The Circle R River Ranch sits along the north bank of the Yellowstone River, 30 miles east of Billings and 2.5 miles west of Pompey’s Pillar National Monument. It encompasses 3,976 deeded acres and includes leases on an additional 690 acres of federal BLM and state school trust land. The ranch provides land access to an additional 4,760 acres of state and federal land that currently are publicly accessible only by boat from the Yellowstone River.

FWP is in negotiations with the current owners for purchase of the property.

The proposed purchase is intended to protect and enhance important wildlife habitat, including nearly five miles of Yellowstone River shoreline, from subdivision or development and to provide recreational access to more than 9,400 acres of contiguous public land and habitat.

The draft environmental assessment of the proposed purchase is online at:

http://fwp.mt.gov/publicnotices/notice_1709.aspx

The EA covers only the proposed land purchase and any future significant development of the land would be subject to an additional EA. Written comments should be emailed to rmule’@mt.gov   or addressed to:

Circle R River Ranch Acquisition

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks

Region 5 Headquarters

2300 Lake Elmo Drive

Billings, MT   59105

 

-FWP-