Five Valleys Land Trust, based in Missoula and working in southwest Montana, monitors nearly 81,000 acres of conserved land every year. Five Valleys recently gave a shout out to the monitoring process and stewardship staff with this Facebook post:

Conservation easement monitoring season is one of our favorite times of year. While stewarding the 80,777 acres under our care, we get to connect with our many conservation easement landowners and enjoy in incredible summer scenery like this. Montana truly is the Last Best Place.

Monitoring and stewarding conservation easements is an important part of private land conservation and a land trust’s  commitment to landowners.

Five Valleys Land Trust photo

To pay tribute to those who have created an enduring legacy of conservation, The Montana Land Reliance has established the Forever Montana Society.

The Forever Montana Society exists to honor those who have left a lasting legacy of conservation, and to inspire others to do the same. With perpetuity in mind, the Forever Montana Society consists of all of MLR’s easement donors and those who have provided for conservation in their overall financial and estate plans, sustaining agricultural lands, fish and wildlife habitat, and open space for generations to come.

Flathead Land Trust and Montana FWP are working on a great pro-access project near Columbia Falls. Tremendous opportunity for hunters, anglers and the public.

Laura Katzman/Flathead Land Trust photo

Flathead Land Trust is planning some virtual fun on August 13.

From FLT:

Let’s Party for the Land, Virtual Style… & Raise the Sky for Conservation

Join us on August 13 to learn about and celebrate exciting conservation that’s being accomplished in 2020 and help raise some money to continue our efforts. We’ll be hosting an online celebration and program with a “raise the sky for conservation” live drive and virtual cocktail hour. You’ll also get a chance to “virtually tour” some beautiful properties we’ve recently conserved as well as several we hope to conserve with your help.

No ticket purchase needed. We just want to celebrate with you this year, even if we can’t do it in person. RSVP at ptravis@flatheadlandtrust.org and stay tuned for more details coming soon on how you can join in the fun for a good cause.

President Trump today signed the Great American Outdoors Act into law, which means permanent full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The passage and signing of the bill into law marks a historic achievement in US land conservation, and will benefit national parks, public lands and everyone who enjoys the outdoors.

Thank you to Montana Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines, and Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte, for their support of the bill.

The Vital Ground Foundation, based in Missoula, seeks to protect grizzly bear habitat while also seeking to reduce and prevent human – bear conflicts. On its website, Vital Ground provides several examples of collaborative partner projects designed to diminish conflicts between people and bears.

by Glenn Marx, MALT Executive Director

The past week showcased the broad support and diverse value of land conservation in Montana.

The Montana Board of Land Commissioners (aka Land Board) approved three different Montana FWP recreation and access projects on July 20, and each of the three projects featured an important Montana land trust partnership. Each project was also approved by a 5-0 vote.

Mike Mueller of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation engaged Governor Bullock with some friendly banter about elk bugling during a discussion of the Garrity Mountain Wildlife Management Area expansion. Gates Watson of The Conservation Fund was a key supporter of the Confluentus Corner Fishing Access Site, and TCF’s financial agility helped make the project possible. Gavin Ricklefs offered compelling testimony when he spoke in support of the C. Ben White Memorial Fishing Access Site. Three projects, three strong partnerships, three unanimous votes. Pretty impressive.

The Great American Outdoors Act received 370 votes July 23 on the US House of Representatives floor, capping the congressional (and political) miracle of full permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It is hard to put the magnitude of that accomplishment in context.

Speaking of the LWCF, LWCF funds are a critical component in The Trust for Public Land’s collaborative landscape conservation project with MTFWP, USF&WS and Southern Pine Plantations in northwest Montana. Every time I see a headline about the project the acreage  seems to somehow magically grow, and is now around 300,000 acres.

Finally, last week Gallatin Valley Land Trust announced it – with assistance from the NRCS and Gallatin County Open Lands Program – will permanently protect the over 100-year-old Spring Family Farm.

Ponder, for a moment, the diversity and value of that collection of projects and efforts. Not a bad week, indeed.

Here’s looking back at a truly great week for Montana and American land conservation: Great American Outdoors Act, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Lost Trail, land board support, Spring Family Farm and much more. Wow.

Marx photo

The US House of Representatives has passed the Great American Outdoors Act with a historic and overwhelming 310-107 vote! Final congressional passage of the bill is a remarkable achievement for conservation and outdoor recreation. Thank you, Congressman Greg Gianforte, for your vote of support. The bill contains full permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The LWCF has provided over $639 million for Montana outdoor recreation and conservation funding since the program was created in 1964, and has funded outdoor projects in nearly every one of Montana’s 56 counties. The LWCF is America’s and Montana’s premier conservation program, and permanent full funding at $900 million annually has been a Montana land trust federal policy priority for several years.

Next step for the Great American Outdoors Act is a White House signature by President Trump.

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    Thanks to the Spring family, Gallatin Valley Land Trust, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Gallatin County Open Lands Program, the 100-year-old Spring Valley Farm will produce agricultural products, open space and wildlife habitat for another 100 years and longer. A  permanent conservation easement, held by GVLT under the NRCS Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (with ACEP funding) with funding help from the county open land program, was finalized earlier this month.

     The Spring Family Farm, 313 acres in size, was established in 1902 by homesteader Wilbur Spring, located northeast of present-day Belgrade. GVLT reports that Wilbur Spring, Jr. “turned the swampy pasture land into a thriving hay and grain operation.”  Today, the farm remains in agricultural production, including wheat, barley, oats, and canola and alfalfa hay.

     From the GVLT website:The Spring siblings wrote to the Gallatin County Open Lands Board that a conservation easement “ensure[s] that future generations will also be able to experience the feeling of peace that overtakes anyone who walks through the hay fields while gazing at the beautiful Bridger Mountains and watching the antics of the Sandhill cranes and the other creatures that inhabit this paradise.”

     The legacy of the Spring family will live on in their land, which is now protected in perpetuity with the help of the Gallatin County Open Lands Program, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the generosity and dedication of the Spring Family.