Preserve Montana's History

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By KFBB News Team

Story Published: Sep 11, 2009 at 6:34 PM MDT

Story Updated: Sep 11, 2009 at 6:34 PM MDT

Montana is rife with natural and cultural landscapes, from Pictograph cave near Billings to the Butte-Anaconda Historic District in Silver Bow and Deer Lodge counties. Many are under threat of development that could alter their historic significance.

"The places we've been concerned have been the siting of some of the energy projects," says Barbara Pahl of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, "That's the issue here in Great Falls." Pahl is talking about the Lewis and Clark portage trail around Great Falls near highwoods, a historically significant vista that is the site of a controversial electric generating station. "The threats are, a, principally, [an] extremely detrimental impact to the vista itself," says Andrew Veech of the National Park Service. He oversees the trail from his office in Omaha, Nebraska, "This is a particular stretch of the Lewis and Clark trail which remains largely unchanged from the early 1800s."

There are a total of twenty-five National Historic Landmarks in the state and the Montana Preservation Alliance is dedicated to working with both public and private entities. This year, the group was instrumental in getting the legislature to set aside $4 Million dollars in stimulus funds for historic preservation, says Executive Director Chere Juisto, "We work with a lot of local groups and committees, everyone from individual property owners to organizations, like "Save Virginia City", Missoula Preservation Society, groups like that.

Groups such as the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center Foundation, which recently acquired several acres of land directly across the Missouri from the center in an effort to preserve the view for visitors. "It's important that we have spaces set aside that preserve the landscape," says Foundation Chair Jay Russell, "that are open spaces that people can come and enjoy."

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