About
The Blackfoot River Community is a grassroots, volunteer-led effort to protect the Blackfoot River corridor from a proposed 64-acre asphalt plant and gravel pit 3.5 miles upstream from Bonner, Montana.
We’re working to preserve clean water, healthy habitat, and the natural character of this iconic river.
Who We Are
We are residents and taxpayers of Missoula County united by a shared commitment to protect the Blackfoot River and the communities that depend on it. We are deeply concerned about the proposed gravel mine and asphalt plant near Bonner, Montana an industrial development that threatens to disrupt the peace, beauty, and ecological health of this treasured river corridor.
Why We Are Concerned
The proposed gravel mine and asphalt plant would fundamentally damage the Blackfoot River corridor—bringing industrial noise, dust, odor, heavy truck traffic, and visual blight to a landscape known for its natural beauty and recreation. It would significantly increase risks to traffic safety, degrade air and water quality, and threaten vulnerable wildlife, including native trout and grizzly bears. These impacts directly endanger public health and safety, and violate our constitutional right as Montanans to a clean and healthful environment.
Generations of citizens, agencies, and conservation groups have worked tirelessly to restore and safeguard the Blackfoot watershed. This proposal runs counter to those decades of effort and to the shared vision of a living, thriving river that sustains both people and wildlife.
The Story of the Blackfoot River
The Blackfoot River begins high in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, winding west through forested canyons and open valleys before joining the Clark Fork River near Bonner. Along its 130-mile journey, it gathers the clear, cold waters of countless mountain streams an unbroken thread of life that connects wilderness to community.
For thousands of years, this river has been a lifeline. Native peoples (Blackfeet, Salish, Nez Perce, and others) followed what became known as the “Trail of the Buffalo,” traveling the Blackfoot corridor to reach the plains for hunting and trade. The river’s name, its stories, and its pathways are interwoven with Indigenous history and the deep relationship between people and place.
Today, the Blackfoot remains a sanctuary for both humans and wildlife. Its cold, clean waters sustain the endangered bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout, while the surrounding corridor provides essential habitat for elk, deer, bighorn sheep, grizzly bears, and golden and bald eagles.
Read about the economic benefits of the Blackfoot River from a report by the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project. (Download the PDF)
For our communities, the Blackfoot is more than a river, it’s a way of life. Families gather on its beaches, kids learn to swim in its gentle eddies, dogs roam freely along its banks, and anglers from around the world cast flies into its legendary waters.
Immortalized by Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It, the Blackfoot has become a symbol of Montana itself a place where nature, story, and spirit merge. Its beauty and legacy draw visitors from across the globe, supporting local businesses and fueling Montana’s thriving outdoor recreation and fly-fishing industries.
The Blackfoot River corridor is not just land and water it’s living history, a wild refuge, and a shared inheritance that connects us all.