Plum Creek Timber Co. has agreed to sell 117,152 acres around Placid Lake and the Gold Creek drainage northeast of Missoula to the Nature Conservancy for $85 million.

“They are among the most ecologically diverse and intact biological systems remaining in the United States,” Plum Creek spokeswoman Kate Tate said in a media release Monday afternoon.

The deal also includes 48,000 acres on both sides of Interstate 90 between Snoqualmie Pass and Ellensburg in western Washington, in the heart of the Cascade Range. Total cost of the sale is $134 million.

“This isn’t just Seeley Lake’s backyard,” said Nature Conservancy land manager Chris Bryant. “It’s Missoula’s backyard as well. It’s almost adjacent to the Rattlesnake Wilderness, and it touches some of the (Confederated Salish and Kootenai) Tribal Primitive Area by Jocko Lake. This landscape has cultural value for traditional resources, Native American uses, current hunting, and recreation. It’s a really important landscape for people, as well as wildlife. Now we’ve got to figure how to balance all that in a long-term ownership strategy.”

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