Acontentious land exchange on the eastern side of the Crazy Mountains and near Big Sky has been approved by the supervisor of the Custer Gallatin National Forest.

The draft decision contains modifications to address concerns from the more than 1,000 people who commented.

The changes include conservation easements and protective covenants to limit development on exchanged parcels, wetland protection by modifying federal parcel boundaries and deed restrictions, Supervisor Mary Erickson wrote in her Sept. 27 letter attached to the documentation.

“I believe that this decision secures the strongest and most certain possible outcome to serve the long-term public interest,” Erickson wrote. “Over 100 years of history have shown that existing access challenges in the East Crazy Mountains will never be any less difficult to resolve.”

Read more at the Billings Gazette here...