Swan Ecosystem Center (SEC) is a nonprofit community group in the Swan Valley of northwestern Montana. People with diverse perspectives learn about the watershed and are involved in land management on public and private land. SEC helps people work together to sustain the valley's natural resources and rural and wild characteristics.

SEC has an office and Visitor Center in the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center, providing information to the public about trails, campsites and wildlife. SEC provides funds and volunteers to keep backcountry trail stewards at work in the Mission Mountains Wilderness and the Swan Range. Water quality monitoring and restoration in the Swan Valley is funded in part by grants that SEC receives. To involve a broad segment of the community in forest stewardship, SEC organizes field trips during the early stages of national forest timber sale development. SEC and the U.S. Forest Service cooperatively oversee a 120-acre stewardship site near the U.S. Forest Service Condon Work Center. Short trails provide access to two demonstration forests on this site

The Elk Creek Conservation Area is a square-mile parcel of land at the confluence of Elk Creek and the Swan River, owned by Swan Ecosystem Center (SEC) and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). The land was acquired in 2006 from Plum Creek Timber Company to protect vital fish and wildlife habitat, forest resources and public access. Elk Creek is one of the most important bull trout streams in Montana. SEC has been working to ensure the entire stream is protected.

The Swan Valley is rural and wild. It is integral to the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, where people and a rich diversity of native plants and animals flourish. People learn from the ecosystem and work to promote its vitality, while maintaining a rural way of life.

Swan Ecosystem Center serves the public on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service, selling maps and firewood permits and providing detailed information about area recreation. We are located at mile marker 42.5 on Highway 83. If you have questions, give us a call or stop in for a visit.