Montana Association of Land Trusts
Private Land Conservation
About the Montana Association of Land Trusts
The Montana Association of Land Trusts, created in 2005, is a group of 12 separate nonprofit land trust organizations working on private land conservation and voluntary conservation agreements throughout the state of Montana.
The Montana Association of Land Trusts, with offices in Helena and Whitehall, helps to coordinate association membership to achieve legislative, administrative, communications and policy goals.
The Montana Association of Land Trusts is comprised of these 12 private, nonprofit members:
- Prickly Pear Land Trust, Helena
- Gallatin Valley Land Trust, Bozeman
- The Trust for Public Land, Bozeman
- Flathead Land Trust, Kalispell
- Montana Land Reliance, Helena
- Five Valleys Land Trust, Missoula
- Bitter Root Land Trust, Hamilton
- The Conservation Fund, Missoula
- Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Missoula
- The Vital Ground Foundation, Missoula
- The Nature Conservancy of Montana, Helena
- Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Conservancy
Land trusts work with private landowners to maintain working farms and ranches, protect water quality, protect wildlife habitat, preserve open lands and retain the values that make Montana such an attractive place to live, work and recreate.
Montana has a strong tradition of land trust and land conservation excellence. The members of the Montana Association of Land Trusts comply with Land Trust Standards and Practices as a condition of membership. Land Trust Standards and Practices are rigorous national standards that assure land trusts operate with professional integrity and quality. In addition, two Montana land trusts – Five Valleys Land Trust and Gallatin Valley Land Trust – have been among the first land trusts nationally to receive accreditation status from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, private land conservation’s highest certification.
Land trusts negotiate voluntary agreements with landowners that limit commercial development and residential subdivision of the property. In essence, land trusts acquire, and then retire, development rights of the property. Conservation easements have potential federal estate tax and federal income tax benefits for landowners. Many land trusts work with local, county and federal programs that provide public funding for land conservation. Other land trusts have active trails and outdoor recreation programs.
Montana land trusts have assisted private landowners in conserving over one million acres in the state since 1978, and thanks to federal conservation tax incentives and the quality work of land trusts, the pace of private land conservation has increased in recent years.
