A second energy company has agreed to sell its federal mineral leases along the Rocky Mountain Front.

The Calgary-based Startech energy company will sell its gas and oil leases, which cover 23,310 acres in the Blackleaf area, for an undisclosed amount as part of a privately funded buyout. The plan calls for retiring the federal mineral rights leases on 8,460 acres; the rest will be returned to the state or to private mineral rights owners.

The private, non-profit Wyss Foundation based in Washington, D.C., provided the money for the lease buyout; Startech declined to release the amount for the leases Thursday, saying in a press release that it was proprietary information. Calls to Startech and the Wyss Foundation weren't returned.

Startech's decision comes a few weeks after the energy company Questar agreed to donate its Front leases. Together, Startech and Questar had controlled all federal mineral leases in the Blackleaf area of the Rocky Mountain Front west of Choteau.

Startech had proposed new drilling in the area two years ago, but that effort was suspended by the Bush administration in 2004 after strong public opposition.

"This is the company that started this all in the last round," noted Chris Mehl with The Wilderness Society's Bozeman office. "They were the ones that really wanted to drill."

The Coalition for the Rocky Mountain Front is a group of ranchers, hunters, anglers, outfitters, guides, local business owners, public officials, conservationists, and other Montanans who were instrumental in the two lease buyouts. Members said they hope that the Questar and Startech agreements will serve as a model for similar buy-out or donation agreements with the remaining leaseholders in the Front.

Approximately 106,000 acres of federal land in the area remains under lease for energy development, involving 17 leaseholders with about 50 leases. Most of the leases are concentrated in the Badger-Two Medicine, a largely roadless part of the Lewis and Clark National Forest that is held sacred by the Blackfeet Nation.

"The sale and retirement of the leases in the Blackleaf area is a crucial step toward maintaining the current condition of critical wildlife habitat along the Front," Coalition member and Fairfield-area farm owner Tony Porcarelli said. "To have the grizzly bear still roaming out onto the prairie is a testament to the wildness of the Front and proof that the nearly century long effort on the part of Montana sportsmen and women to protect the area hasn't lost any momentum."

In 1997, the Lewis and Clark National Forest placed a moratorium on new leases on forest land along the Rocky Mountain Front, which stretches for about 100 miles from Glacier National Park to north of Helena. However, that moratorium didn't apply to pre-existing leases or other federal lands, and Startech was planning on drilling three wells in Blindhorse Canyon, a BLM Outstanding Natural Area, as well as up to eight additional wells.

When the Bush administration suspended work on an Environmental Impact Statement that could have allowed Startech to drill, officials said they would entertain proposals that involved using private funds to buy out the existing leases. Sen. Conrad Burns recently introduced legislation that not only would prevent new gas and oil leases on public lands along the Front, but also would prohibit existing leases that are retired to be re-issued.

The legislation has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee as part of the Interior Appropriations bill. Both the Startech and Questar leases will be retired pending successful passage of the Burns legislation.

The lease buyout agreement does not affect the rights of private property or private mineral owners within the Blackleaf area. Under Burns' legislation, those rights would be protected until they expire or are relinquished to the federal government. Current leaseholders could keep their leases, donate them to the federal government or sell the lease to a third party.

Chuck Blixrud, a ranch owner and outfitter on the Front, was thrilled with Startech's announced sale of its leases.

"This comes as tremendous news to all of us who have been working over the years to see the Front remain in its natural and wild condition," said Blixrud, owner of the Seven Lazy P Guest Ranch outside of Choteau. "My wife Sharon and I sincerely thank Senators Max Baucus and Conrad Burns for their efforts, and the exploration companies for their foresight and openness to a new kind of economic solution that will protect the Front for our grandchildren."

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