The Prickly Pear Land Trust announced Wednesday it has bought the 457-acre Spring Hill Claim Block in the mountains three miles south of downtown Helena for about half a million dollars.

In a complicated deal, the property was purchased for $495,000 from Ardic Exploration and Development, LTD of Miami with the aid of a loan from Mountain West Bank of Helena and about $30,000 raised by PPLT members.

Through a series of land exchanges involving several other nonprofit organizations and the U.S. Forest Service, the parcel eventually will be incorporated into the surrounding Helena National Forest.

"It's a complex deal, but really cool," said Andy Baur, PPLT executive director. "This is our biggest deal yet. It's a little bit daunting, and we have a lot of work to do to make sure the transfer takes place, but our members really support the transaction and are excited to move forward."

The parcel lies in an east-west direction and includes portions of Grizzly, Wakina Sky (formerly Squaw) and Orofino gulches. It is just about surrounded by the Helena National Forest, and includes a handful of longtime popular routes for hikers, bikers and skiers.

Many people didn't realize that the property was private, with a rich mining history and an equivalent potential for development. The Spring Hill mine operated on 20 of the 457 acres beginning in the 1870s, and was second only to the Anaconda Company in gold production in 1929. It's believed that the area contains large volumes of ore, but it is of low grade and difficult to process.

Ardic Exploration purchased the property in 1991 with the hopes of permitting a gold mine, but falling metal prices proved prohibitive. Four years ago, the company put the land, which is comprised of 26 contiguous patented mining claims, on the market.

At that point, there was the possibility that homes could be constructed on each mining claim. Members of the Land Trust, as well as Helena National Forest officials, believed that it was better for forest management and for wildlife to keep the area — a key wildlife corridor between the Elkhorns and the Continental Divide — as open space.

In August, the Land Trust signed an option to purchase the parcel for $495,000. Even at that time, though, the organization didn't intend to hang on to the property. Instead, the private, nonprofit land trust planned to transfer the 457 acres to the Helena National Forest once that federal agency could pull together the funds.

Forest Supervisor Tom Clifford noted that this is an important acquisition for the forest.

"Pressures from private development and increases in hiking and mountain biking continue to affect the lands south of Helena," Clifford said. "The acquisition of Spring Hill by the forest will allow us to maintain public access, accommodate recreation use and protect important habitat values."

While the Forest Service searches for the money to buy the property from PPLT, two other private foundations may provide a cash influx to the project.

Both the Helena Forest Foundation and Montana History Foundation want to acquire 1- to 2-acre parcels at the Helena Ranger District office site near the I-15 interchange at Cedar Street for future facilities. So as part of the deal, those two groups plan to purchase portions of the Spring Hill property, then exchange them with the Forest Service for land it owns near the Cedar/I-15 sites.

In addition, the Prickly Pear Sportsman's Association wishes to do a similar exchange for its 9-acre shooting range on MacDonald Pass.

Baur said he expects those purchases to take place within the next year, with the Forest Service eventually buying the rest of the land from the trust within 2-3 years. Baur added that sooner is better than later for the deal to be closed, since the land trust is paying on the debt in the meantime.

"We'll have annual costs between $30,000 to $35,000, which includes debt service, maintenance and weed control, and vegetation management," Baur said. "Since we are a nonprofit organization, our down payment was very reasonable and Mountain West gave us a very good rate.

"But we still have to raise money in the meantime to pay off the loan. Hopefully, when the Forest Service takes over, we will get repaid for those expenses, and those funds would be put back into other projects."

Since 1996, PPLT has worked with the Lewis and Clark County and City of Helena to acquire more than 400 acres of public open space, as well as planning and implementation of trail projects in Helena's South Hills. The Land Trust also holds five conservation easements with private landowners totaling more than 500 acres.

Reporter Eve Byron can be reached at 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com.