The Vital Ground Foundation and a cooperative landowner have partnered to conserve 100 acres of land termed “a habitat-rich zone that helps connect wildlife in and around Glacier National Park with those farther west in the Salish and Cabinet mountain ranges of Montana’s northwestern corner.”

     The conservation easement will maintain open land, protect wildlife habitat and protect a key connectivity area for wildlife in the fast-growing area around Whitefish. 

     “This area is critical for wildlife and wildlife movement,” says Mitch Doherty, Conservation Director for Vital Ground. “But it’s also still quiet and scenic, with that rural feel that we’re losing in too many places throughout western Montana right now.”

     Major support for the Tamarack Creek project came from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the PDJ Family Foundation and numerous individual contributors.

       The Gallatin County Commission gave initial unanimous approval of six proposed conservation easements through the county’s open land program that would conserve 7,200 acres of important Gallatin Valley agricultural lands.

     The initial approval came on Dec. 14, after the commission considered four project applications by  Gallatin Valley Land Trust and two from The Montana Land Reliance. 

    The six projects will now go to the Gallatin County Open Lands Program Board before a final decision by the county commission. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle article indicates there is enough funding for all six projects, with some additional funding rolled over into 2022.

     The proposed conservation easements highlighted in the Chronicle all featured impressive agricultural and wildlife conservation benefits.

     Chad Klinkenborg, lands program manager at Gallatin Valley Land Trust, said that the Gallatin Madison North Ranch proposed easement is within five miles of eight existing conservation easements held by GVLT which combined have conserved around 5,000 acres of agricultural land.

     The property was described as critical winter range for elk. An elk herd that has frequented the property has grown substantially over the years.

     The Chronicle reported that The Rimkus Property, a conservation easement proposed by MLR, is home to a large variety of animal species, including 47 species of birds and seven species of bats that are of concern, said Kathryn Kelly, MLR’S Greater Yellowstone manager

      Congratulations to longtime Flathead Land Trust board member and treasurer Jeff Jones and Region 1 of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks for receiving Flathead Land Trust 2021 Conservation Leadership Awards. 

   The awards were presented in late November and are highlighted in a FLT newsletter and on the FLT website. Alan Wood, who recently retired at MTFWP, was singled out and saluted as well. 

     A short FLT video titled “FLT Partner and Member Appreciation Celebration” details the successful FLT/FWP partnership on projects at Somers Beach State Park and Bad Rock Canyon Conservation Project, two dynamic community conservation projects in the Flathead.

     Jeff Jones has served on the FLT board since 2013 and as treasurer since 2014. 

Flathead Land Trust Photo: From left: Paul Travis, FLT Executive Director; Jeff Jones, FLT Board Treasurer; Kris Tempel, FWP Habitat Conservation Biologist; Jim Williams, FWP Region 1 Supervisor.

      Wildlife biologist, author, photographer, conservationist, Montanan, writer, and Vital Ground Foundation board member Douglas Chadwick’s webinar on Dec. 7 (organized by Vital Ground) touched on many subjects, and while some of them were fairly grim he remains optimistic about the Rocky Mountain west and our ability to interact with nature in positive ways.

     Even as the earth’s temperatures climb, wildlife populations drop to dangerous low numbers and species are imperiled, and the world’s population continues to increase, he has hope for his home range in western Montana.

     “This is a can-do deal,” he said at one point, meaning generally wildlife and land conservation in the Yellowstone to the Yukon area. “This is a being-done deal.” 

     Doug said he was encouraged by the actions of Vital Ground and other conservation groups that are working to conserve wildlife habitat and strategically conserving key wildlife corridors or connectivity areas necessary to retain genetically healthy populations. For example, in response to a question, he suggested no specific individual population of grizzly bears in Montana should be removed from the Endangered Species List until all grizzly bears in all the areas are connected through habitat and corridors that allow connectivity. 

     Vital Ground recorded the webinar which is available on YouTube.

     From a Prickly Pear Land Trust social media post:

     A Farm Forever!

     Last week, PPLT completed a conservation easement on a thousand acres of prime, irrigated farmland and over 1.6 miles of Missouri River shoreline. 

     The Tri G River Ranch, between Toston and Townsend, is the latest completed conservation project by PPLT and the first in Broadwater County.

     This water and soil-rich valley property now has permanent, conservation protection. This stretch of the Mighty Mo will continue to feed the community, host vibrant trout and walleye populations, and provide a pitstop for huge flocks of migratory birds. 

     A feature story in The Missoulian outlined the multiple goals of logging operations within the Potomac area and underscores the challenges—and opportunities—of forest management across multiple land ownerships with a goal of shared resources outcomes.

     Under a headline of “Touch time for trees: Old logging lands need lots of work” the article showcases the management cooperation across jurisdictions among The Nature Conservancy, Bureau of Land Management and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. 

   “We weren’t there to log it and get a bunch of stuff to the mills and make money,” Chris Bryant of The Nature Conservancy says in the article. “This work is cost — an investment in the forest. We’re trying to find ways of getting that cost down so it makes it possible to do things at scale.”

     The Nature Conservancy in Montana owns a significant amount of forestland in the area and is working to transfer the lands into public ownership. 

     “I hope we’re humble enough to not say we’re making a forest for anything,” Bryant added. “We’re using the best available science to create a forest that’s all those things. I can’t predict 50 or 100 years from now what society is going to expect from that forest. But nobody has aspirations to get back to industrial forest management on this landscape. I don’t see an industrial timber era with practices we’ve seen in the past having any chance of being sustainable at all.”  

     History, conservation and public access are merging in Sandpoint as Kaniksu Land Trust seeks to acquire a  historic sledding hill on Pine Street, near KLT’s Pine Street Woods. The Bonner County Daily Bee reports that 500 parcels five acres or larger have changed hands in Bonner County, but this parcel is special. The article headline is KLT Eyes Iconic Property for Community Access.  “Historic farmsteads such as this are disappearing at an alarming rate. This one in particular, which serves as the gateway to Pine Street Woods, is very special. KLT is doing everything possible to acquire this land in order to conserve it and to share it with our community,” Regan Plumb, KLT conservation director, said in the article. The property has “been part of the community’s history” for over 100 years, notes the Bee article.

Photo: BONNER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY & MUSEUM

      The Front Street Pathway in Bozeman, a key section of the Main Street to the Mountains project, is now “officially complete,” reports Gallatin Valley Land Trust, and a ribbon cutting ceremony is set for Dec. 17, at 3:30 PM.

     From a Facebook post by GVLT: Gallatin Valley Land Trust is excited to invite you to a ribbon cutting celebration of the new Front Street Pathway that is now complete and open to the public. We would love to have you join us to celebrate this important community trail project.

     The ribbon cutting will take place on the bridge. Please walk or bike to the location. Make sure to dress warm as we will be outside!

The Vital Ground Foundation has announced the acquisition of an important 20-acre parcel of wildlife connectivity land in the Swan Valley. The newly-protected acres lie in the Simmons Meadow wetland complex, adjacent to public lands and a Vital Ground conservation easement donated by a conservation-minded landowner in the area. By connecting large blocks of public land to the east and west, these conserved properties form a key portion of the Upper Swan’s habitat corridor, an established linkage zone for wildlife moving between the Mission and Swan mountain ranges.

This undeveloped property provides key East-West habitat connectivity for myriad wildlife species that call the Swan Valley home,” said Luke Lamar, Conservation Director for Swan Valley Connections, a conservation and education nonprofit and frequent Vital Ground partner based in Condon. “Vital Ground’s purchase will ensure the property remains open space and an iconic view of the Swan Range will remain undeveloped.”

“With the intense real estate market escalations we’re seeing in Montana and across the Mountain West, it’s extremely important that we conserve remaining habitat linkages on private lands,” says Ryan Lutey, Executive Director of Vital Ground. “Whether it’s within existing grizzly range or helping reconnect isolated subpopulations, countless species will benefit from more connected, protected landscapes.”

     The Bitter Root Land Trust and the Montana NRCS recently closed an ALE Program conservation easement on the 155-acre Yoder Angus Ranch northeast of Stevensville in the Bitterroot Valley.  

     BRLT executive director Gavin Ricklefs announced the closing of the project in a 55-second video with the ranch in the background. 

     From a BRLT eNewsletter: This family ranch rests on 155 acres of valuable Bitterroot agricultural ground and is home to a cow-calf operation, as well as to a variety of wildlife including ducks, hawks, geese, fox and elk. The ranch is operated by the Yoder family who cherish the opportunity to continue a traditional way of life working in agriculture, and look forward to passing the ranch down to their children  someday. 

     “We knew if we didn’t do something to conserve this land today, it wouldn’t look like this tomorrow,” said Jake Yoder, landowner. “Knowing that we will still be able to wake up and see manure on the ground, cows in the pasture and saddled horses for years to come makes this more  than worth it.”

     Seventeen additional conservation easements are located near the Yoder Ranch. Funding for the project came from the Farm Bill’s Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) Program and the Ravalli County Open Lands Program. 

(Below) Ravalli Republic Photo