Malta-area prairie reserve tops 300,000 acres

BILLINGS (AP) — A private conservation reserve taking shape on north-central Montana's open prairie now spans more than 300,000 acres — or almost 470 square miles — with the addition of a large parcel south of Malta that was disclosed Thursday.

American Prairie Reserve manager James Barnett said the group recently bought a 22,000-acre ranch in Phillips County that will be known as Sun Prairie North.

The Bozeman-based group described the purchase as an important step in its goal to piece together more than 3 million acres of public and private lands. That's an area larger than Connecticut.

(Full story in Friday's Havre Daily News.)