Sustaining Timber. Supporting Forests. Strengthening Communities.
The Montana land trust community partners with private forest landowners, industrial forest owners, public forest management agencies and others to help improve forest management efficiency, forest health, expand recreational access to forest lands and strengthen the economies of local communities.
The threat of increased development pressures across Montana has spurred what’s likely to go down as one of modern Montana’s greatest conservation success stories, and spurred a remarkable partnership to save this landscape and the Montana values it nourishes.
Click below to see how a land trust, a timber company, and a wildlife agency joined forces to preserve working and hunting lands for the entire Northwest community.
Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land’s Haskill Basin project is an excellent example of a partnership that produces multiple benefits well beyond the important value of sustainable forest management. Haskill Basin, located near the City of Whitefish and Whitefish Lake, provides 75 percent of Whitefish’s drinking supply and was prime for development. TPL worked with the landowner – Stoltze Land & Lumber Company, the city of Whitefish, Whitefish residents, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and others – to conserve over 3,000 acres to protect drinking water, continue forest health while providing logs to mills, maintain wood products jobs and economic stability, conserve wildlife habitat, and ensure public access and recreational opportunities. The bottom line: Almost five square miles of forestland is conserved in the backyard of Whitefish as that forestland remains part of the vital local timber economy.
“Green Diamond Resource Company has acquired nearly 300,000 acres in Montana. As the largest private forestland owner in the State, we are committed to playing a role in both the conservation of a viable local timber industry and the continuation of recreational access for the people of Montana. Partnering with TPL and USFWS made this possible at the Lost Trail Conservation Area.”
Douglas Reed, President of Green Diamond Resource Company
The Nature Conservancy
For four decades, The Nature Conservancy has worked across Montana to protect critical forestlands and waters, and in partnership with forest landowners, industrial forest owners and public agencies have conserved over 1.2 million acres of land through a combination of easements and acquisition. Over the past 20 years, the Conservancy has been stitching Montana forests back together – reconnecting critical habitat and removing the checkerboard pattern of ownership – so that future generations can continue to work and play in these special places. The Conservancy is committed to combining rigorous science with community input to develop management plans that will protect and restore these forests for the long-term. By listening to and partnering with others, the Conservancy is mapping out a future where resilient Montana forests enable nature and people to thrive.
Five Valleys Land Trust
Five Valleys Land Trust, based in Missoula, is actively working with local landowners, forestry consultants, community members, recreationists, local governments, public agencies, and others to steward the Mount Dean Stone Community Forest. Since 2014, Five Valleys has been engaged in protecting and providing public access to Mount Dean Stone, the mountain that makes up the southeastern skyline of Missoula. This effort includes leading the Mount Dean Stone Committee, a collaboration of 20+ agencies, NGOs, landowners, and businesses. In 2023, Five Valleys acquired and created the 2,470-acre Mount Dean Stone Community Forest and now manages the landscape for a broad set of values including multi-user recreation, wildlife habitat, wildfire readiness and forest health, climate resilience, and community safety and economic needs.
The Vital Ground Foundation
The Vital Ground Foundation Alvord Lake Community Forest Project combines multiple partners and multiple resource management goals. The Alvord Lake Community Forest, located north of Troy in northwest Montana, combines grizzly bear habitat conservation with community goals, local cooperation, forest health and forest management, recreational public access and long-term stewardship of the property. Local residents wanted to maintain recreational access and wildlife habitat, and worked with Vital Ground, volunteers from the Society of American Foresters and others to create a forest management plan and provisions within the USFS Community Forest Program that accomplishes wildlife habitat, forest management and outdoor recreation goals.
For more information about land trust partnerships that improve forest management, please feel free to contact these and other MALT member organizations by visiting the Members page.
