Helena’s open lands are a great asset to the city.  They hold precious scenic, cultural, recreation, and natural values.  The lands provide a dramatic scenic backdrop and put wildlands directly adjacent to the urban environments, but also pose unique management issues.  This Helena Open Lands Management Plan addresses these issues, provides solutions, and creates a vision for the future of Helena’s open lands.

Open lands
The city of Helena currently owns and manages over 2140 acres of open, undeveloped parkland, including the popular Mount Helena City Park and several other trail locations.  Much of this land was purchased with proceeds from the Helena open space bond passed in 1995.  All of the money has either been spent or committed.  So the task remaining is managing and maintaining the land.  In January 2007, the City Commission voted to assess properties citywide to create a maintenance fund for these lands.  The total annual assessment is about $156,000.

Helena Open Space Maintenance District No. 1