BOZEMAN (AP) - About 1,500 acres of wildlife habitat in the upper Madison Valley will be off-limits to development under a land deal announced Wednesday.

The deal, between the U.S. Forest service and a conservation group, also guarantees access for big game hunters and anglers on a popular stretch of the Madison River.

The nonprofit Trust for Public Land bought the land, which borders the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area a few miles west of Quake Lake, from the Olliffe family last summer.

The Forest Service recently acquired the easement using a $2 million federal appropriation from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., played a key role in securing the funding. "It's a win from every angle," Burns spokesman Matt Mackowiak said.

The deal will block most residential construction but allow for permanent public hunting access. In addition, the public will have permanent walk-in access to an extra mile of the Madison River.

The easement is crucial to wildlife that migrate from Yellowstone National Park to winter range in the upper Madison Valley, said Kurt Alt, regional biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

"This property is the heart and soul of the wildlife corridor," said Alex Deikmann of the Trust for Public Land's Bozeman office.

Marc Petroni, Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest district ranger in Ennis, said the deal had been in negotiations for four years, since the death of Garnet Olliffe, whose parents homesteaded on the land in 1899.