Lifelong Agricultural Conservation in the Bitterroot
Bob and Laurie Sutherlin, the NRCS, Bitter Root Land Trust, the Farm Bill Agricultural Land Easement program, and the Ravalli County Open Land Program partner to keep 377 prime acres…
The Montana Association of Land Trusts is comprised of 12 members whose focus is voluntary incentive-based conservation. The 12 MALT members provide diverse and broad value through projects and activities that generate open land conservation, outdoor recreation, and land trust community engagement.
Montana land trusts and public agencies have been working cooperatively with landowners for over 40 years, and Montana is a national leader in the quality and quantity of providing land conservation. In more recent years, Montana land trusts have expanded their focus to lead efforts to build and maintain community trails and parks, and to play a stronger leadership role in voluntarily creating recreational access and improving outdoor recreation opportunities.
A key focus of land trusts is the creation of conservation easements through cooperative and voluntary partnership with landowners, and in addition to information about land trusts you’ll find an array of information about how conservation easements work and what they’re designed to achieve.
Between 2014 and 2021, every federal dollar of conservation easement financing invested in Montana’s farms and ranches through the ALE program yielded $1.89 of economic activity. All told, this $109 million investment:
- Produced a total economic impact of $182 million,
- Supported 1,057 local jobs and $41.5 million in labor income, and
- Contributed $99 million to the state’s GDP.
Featured Project
On the Shoulders of Giants is a 21-minute film celebrating the vision and passion behind four decades of private land conservation in Montana. Watch the trailer above.
Thanks to an innovative partnership with musician John Mayer and The Laundress, Out West product sales funded $29,360 in Montana private land conservation.