Land Trust News

   The Vital Ground Foundation has long focused on human and bear conflict prevention, and among Vital Ground’s conservation partners in that prevention effort for 2021 is Flathead Land Trust.

     Vital Ground recently announced its 2021 conservation partner awards, and award recipients reflect a broad geography and a broad diversity of projects or programs to reduce human and bear conflicts. Vital Ground presents the 15 award recipients and their efforts on the Vital Ground Website under a headline of Coexistence Work Helps Grizzlies and People Share Landscapes.

      Gallatin Valley Land Trust , the Gallatin County Open Lands Program, the NRCS ALE Program and local farmer Bruce Visser partnered on a conservation easement that conserves nearly 400 acres of prime farmland and pushed GVLT above the 50,000-acre mark for conserved acres. 

     “The Visser Farm is a productive working farm in an area of intense development pressure,” GVLT Lands Program Manager Chad Klinkenborg said. “The area has some of the best soil in the state of Montana and represents the open landscape of the Gallatin Valley. We had to protect it.” 

      The Bruce Visser Farm Conservation Easement represents GVLT’s 117th conservation easement for a grand total of 50,007 acres conserved. The 50,000 acres conserved milestone is a significant achievement for GVLT, and the Gallatin Valley. 

Photo: GVLT/ Sarah Lowe

      Montana Senator Steve Daines and key Members of Congress have introduced new federal legislation designed to stop the abusive syndication of conservation easement tax benefits. 

     S 2256, the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act, was introduced by Daines and Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) in the Senate. An identical bill, HR 4164, was introduced in the House by Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Mike Kelly (R-PA), which makes the effort to stop the abusive syndicated transactions both bipartisan and bicameral.

      “Montana farmers and ranchers work hard to conserve our lands while scam artists are taking advantage of the conservation easement program,” Daines said. “This type of abuse cannot continue. My bipartisan bill will go after bad actors and help save taxpayers billions of dollars while promoting conservation across the nation.”

     MALT and its members are grateful for Senator Daines’ leadership on this issue.

     The 2021 version of the Integrity Act is a slightly new and improved version from previous years. The Integrity Act is also the Land Trust Alliance’s top federal policy priority. The Alliance’s Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act Toolkit contains a wealth of information about the scope of the syndication problem—a $36 billion scope between 2010 and 2018—tips for advocacy, and informational resources.

     The Integrity Act came close to passing in late 2020 during a lame duck session of Congress, but ultimately was not attached to any of the COVID or legislative stimulus packages. It is clear that syndicators will not stop until they are stopped, and it appears it will require IRS enforcement and congressional legislation to stop them.

Sen. Steve Daines

      Douglas Chadwick, environmental writer, Vital Ground Foundation board member and Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Advisory Board member, has just released a new book titled Four-Fifths a Grizzly.

     The title, as you might expect, refers to the understanding that humans have a “surprisingly close relationship with grizzly bears, sharing 80 percent of our DNA.”  

     The book is available on the Vital Ground Foundation website, and  features an engaging series of personal essays that illustrate “the interconnectedness of nature, advocating that the path toward conservation begins with how we see our place in the world.”

     Chadwick lives in Whitefish and is the author of 14 books about wildlife and wild places. Chadwick and Four-Fifths a Grizzly were also recently featured in a Flathead Beacon article.

     Downtown Hamilton has a new look.

    Four new banners proudly illustrate local conservation and working lands contributions by Bitter Root Land Trust. BRLT announced the banners in a social media post and thanked the Hamilton School District for help putting them up. The banners read: Conserving Wildlife, Conserving Water, Conserving Working Lands, and Conserving Our Way of Life.

Bitter Root Land Trust photo

     The Trust for Public Land has made conservation of northwest Montana forestlands an organizational priority, and TPL’s ongoing success within that priority is reflected by a  number one ranking in the FY22 Forest Legacy Program.

     From a TPL eNewsletter: The U.S. Forest Service Fiscal Year 22 Forest Legacy Program (FLP) recently ranked the Montana Great Outdoors Project in Northwest Montana #1 in the country. The ranking grants the project $20 million by the FLP, and we’re raising an additional $10 million from the Montana state government and private sources to complete the $30 million deal to preserve the land. This project will protect 115,000 acres of critical wildlife habitat, prime fisheries, and highly productive timberland. 

     Congressional project lists generated within the FY22 Land and Water Conservation Fund and Forest Legacy program indicate several other Montana conservation projects have the potential to be funded through FY22 program allocations, but some of that funding is currently uncertain. MALT will provide additional FY22 project information when appropriate.

Photo: Christopher Boyer, Kestrel Aerial

Congratulations to Joe C. King & Sons Ranch as recipients of the Montana Stockgrowers Association 2021 Montana Environmental Stewardship Award. The ranch is owned and operated by Chris & Gari King, their son, Jay King, and their daughter and son-in-law, Kylie and Mitch Thompson. The four-minute video available here demonstrates the commitment to stewardship and resource conservation by the King family. Congratulations to the Stockgrowers and the King Ranch.

     The Land Trust Alliance announced on June 9 that new information is available on the Alliance’s ACEP-ALE Action Center, located on the Alliance website. 

     The ACEP-ALE Action Center provides a broad array of information the ALE Program that land trusts and even landowners would find helpful as they navigate within the NRCS program. The website provides an overview and basic information about the program, and also includes information about “getting started” in ALE, some short videos, and detailed information about ALE Program applications and more. One of the videos, titled Land Trust Alliance + NRCS, showcases several Montanans including land trust personnel and landowners, and Montana NRCS ALE projects. 

From a guest column by Gallatin Valley Land Trust executive director Chet Work: Imagine the deep-voiced, fast-talking promotional commercial during your favorite television show. “NatureRx is commonly used to help treat depression, anxiety, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, sleeplessness, and high blood pressure. NatureRx prescriptions are free and can be administered through a wide variety of activities including regular walks, bike rides, and trail runs. Beware, common side effects include smiles, joy, fresh air, feelings of gratitude, scenic mountains views, wildlife sightings, community connection and in rare occasions, dirty shoes.”

The column provides a wealth of information about the personal and community benefits of trails and outdoor recreation.

A new report featuring western communities including Lincoln, MT, shows the value of recreation and conservation to rural community health and economic diversity and strength. The report was produced by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, and several land trusts and land trust partners are referenced within the report.

“The Heart of the Rockies Rural Development Program was developed on the premise that the success and sustainability of conservation in the Rocky Mountain West is inextricably linked to rural community vitality and economic well-being,” said Gary Burnett, Executive Director of the Heart of the Rockies Initiative. “In highlighting these four case studies, this report illustrates what can be accomplished when stakeholders recognize the alignment between these interconnected priorities.”