Seven years ago, RMEF led a successful effort to open and improve public access to 26,000 acres of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest at Falls Creek, located on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. The project closed just in time for the 2019 general hunting season. Now, thanks to recent developments made by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) at the Falls Creek Recreation Site, hunters will enjoy new amenities in 2026 and during future seasons.
Officially unveiled by USFS in August, the developments include a five-site campground with fire rings, picnic tables, hand-operated water pumps and sweet-smelling toilets. Other improvements are expanded trailer parking areas, hitch rails, feed bunks and corrals for stock use. In addition, the site now has an area to access the adjacent Dearborn River with non-motorized watercraft.
“Being able to work with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, I am very grateful,” said Rory Glueckert, forest recreation program manager for the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. “I’m very grateful we’ve been able to do this. Right now, it’s so important to support these lands, support public lands, and to make these places accessible for the American public.”
To complete the Falls Creek project, RMEF purchased 442 acres southwest of Augusta from a conservation-minded landowner with help from several funding partners and transferred the land to the USFS. The project both opened an access point to the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest and protected quality big game habitat. The recent developments added by the USFS are a testament to the popularity of Falls Creek, which serves as a gateway to the backcountry, and further the value of an already-special piece of land RMEF helped conserve.
“To see it today with the campground being completed and actually see people enjoy it … whether it’s elk hunting, whatever they may be doing, it’s priceless,” said Bryan Golie from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.