It looks like the five-year effort to turn the 5,548-acre Iron Mask parcel over to the public domain will end successfully this year.

Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester announced late Thursday that they have secured $1.25 million from the Bureau of Land Management to finalize the $2.75 million deal, which will turn ownership of the once-privately held parcel over to that federal agency.

The other funding included $1 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and $500,000 from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Trust in 2006.

"Everyone was fighting for this thing to happen, and it's a good feeling that it did," said Gates Watson, Montana state director for the non-profit Conservation Fund. "This is a great recreational resource, an elk and winter feeding zone and is a key part of the east flank of the Elkhorns."

He anticipates that the funding will be available sometime this summer. The Conservation Fund had partnered with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation almost five years ago to purchase the property with the intent of selling it to the BLM.

"We'll start working on the due diligence associated with the final closing, so when the money is available we'll close with the BLM and that land will be in public ownership," Watson added.

Much of the parcel is easily viewed from Highway 12 East near the Silos at Canyon Ferry Reservoir. The Elkhorn Mountains are a 300,000-acre island mountain range, jutting 9,000 feet into the air, and the Iron Mask parcel -- so named for an old mining claim -- includes flatlands that swell toward the sky until the open range becomes a mountainside dotted with aspens, then darkened with Douglas fir and ponderosa pine.

This was land that the former owner considered subdividing into pricy lots, even though it already is home to about 300 elk, as well as bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope and a variety of other wildlife.

All of the organizations involved in the purchase were well aware of its value as a subdivision, but said that more important was its value to wildlife. The fact that it abutted other BLM and Forest Service lands sweetened the pot.

Funding had been included in last year's budget, but it was added as an "earmark." When that budget failed to pass, the earmarks were dropped and the funding became uncertain.

So Baucus and Tester turned directly to BLM officials to get the final $1.25 million.

"This is a great project because it means more access to more lands in the Elkhorns, and I'm very pleased that we were able to secure these dollars," Baucus said.

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation President Peter Dart noted that his group and its volunteers, as well as the other the Conservation Fund, the Elkhorn Working Group and other organizations have worked tirelessly with the BLM and the State of Montana to conserve the parcel.

"Thanks to the administration and the hard work of Sen. Baucus and the entire Montana congressional delegation, we now have the funds to ensure this special place will be conserved and a legacy will be left for future generations," Dart said.

Both Watson and Mark Armstrong with the Elk Foundation said that while they're pleased the Iron Mask purchase will be finalized soon, this isn't the end of their efforts in this area.

"Now we will continue to enhance the land, to work with the BLM and do various projects with our volunteers to improve the habitat," Armstrong said. "We'll knock out noxious weeds and plant with native forage for a number of species, not just elk."

Watson added that his group also is searching for other parcels in the area n which is quickly being subdivision and turned into small ranchettes n for conservation easements or outright purchase.

"We are constantly looking for new opportunities," Watson said. "As much good work as we have all done in this corridor, the pressures of development is still there."

Reporter Eve Byron

can be reached at 447-4076 or by e-mail at eve.byron@helenair.com.