Site Overview

Located at the headwaters of Marshall Creek, adjacent to Lolo National Forest Land, this site has been a recreation site for over 100 years. In the mid-1920s, the area was made popular as a backcountry ski and winter recreation destination by the Montana Mountaineers. From the 1950s through 2002 it operated as a commercial ski area. The commercial ski area operated across the base area and mid-mountain parcels plus across approximately 100 acres of US Forest Service land through a special use permit.
Marshall Mountain is a unique project that offers a variety of recreation opportunities (hiking, trail running, horseback riding, mountain biking, skiing), conservation, youth programming and community gathering.
The project scope recently grew when The Conservation Fund acquired a privately owned parcel next to Marshall Mountain. Surrounded on three sides by Forest Service land, this parcel will provide additional, contiguous public access and greatly improve opportunities for recreation, natural resource management and riparian connectivity.
Since 2002, several public/private collaborations evolved and failed to purchase the Base Area property for use as a community recreation area.
- This sustained community interest in the public acquisition of Marshall Mountain, plus the designation of the area as an Open Space Cornerstone in the 2019 City/County Open Space Plan, supports the public acquisition of the property.
- Additionally, the 2018 Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails county-wide survey found that 71% of households surveyed supported the public acquisition of the former ski area. In 2020, the City of Missoula made an effort to acquire the Base Area; however, the parties were unable to agree upon mutually satisfactory terms.
- This acquisition follows years of public engagement and concern that the base area would be sold privately and closed to the public.

Visit the City of Missoula's Engage Missoula page to learn more about this project and find more documents, links and photos.