In 2007, Five Valleys joined the Forest Service in an effort to close the gaps along a thirty-mile section of the former Milwaukee Road right-of‐way to connect the wildly popular Route of the Hiawatha Trail via a recreational trail that would effectively extend the trail from close to St. Regis, Montana, all the way to Pearson, Idaho. Eventually, the recreational trail will traverse several states, linking the Midwest with the Pacific Coast.
Five Valleys secured options to purchase the privately held parcels and proceeded to identify potential funding sources to complete the purchase. In January 2009, Five Valleys closed on the purchase of the ten privately held parcels of land along the right-of‐way that completed the trail link. Transfer of that land to the Forest Service was completed on August 5, 2009, with the help of vital funding from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ Recreational Trails Program and the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Once the land was securely in public ownership, the Superior Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest took on the task of getting the trail in shape for recreational use and working with the public to craft a management plan to accommodate the variety of uses.
Five Valleys is proud of its history of cooperative conservation efforts focused on securing recreational opportunities. The Route of the Olympian Trail's connection to the Route of the Hiawatha joins the public acquisitions of Mount Jumbo, Mount Sentinel, the Rattlesnake Greenway, the Alberton Gorge, and others as part of that proud legacy.
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