As part of their upcoming (2022) 50th anniversary, Five Valleys Land Trust is holding a photo contest. From the Five Valleys website: Are you a photographer with a love of western Montana’s open lands? We want you! The winning photos will be showcased in a gallery open house event in late September, for National Public Lands Day. The 12 winning shots will also be featured in a Five Valleys 50th anniversary commemorative calendar. Full information is available on the Five Valleys website.
Prickly Pear Land Trust is a key project partner in the East Helena Greenway project, The project concept includes public trails, cleaner water, community conservation and much more. From the PPLT website: In 2010, Prickly Pear Land Trust began working with the community of East Helena and federal, state, and local authorities to plan this recreational trail system and maximize its benefits and connections for East Helena. With the transfer of 323 acres to PPLT in late 2020, this long-term project began in earnest, and the proposed trail will create pedestrian and bike-safe connections between schools, town and Prickly Pear Creek, before heading upstream and connecting to Montana City’s community trails.
THE TRIANGLE TRAILS DRAFT PLAN, a major community trails project in Gallatin County that would essentially connect Bozeman, Four Corners and Belgrade by trail, is out for public comment.The project partners are Gallatin Valley Land Trust, City of Bozeman and the City of Belgrade, and the trails plan calls for safe and accessible routes for a variety of trail users. The project involves several types of trails, including small connector trails for access to schools.
COVID isn’t over, but Montanans and Montana land trusts are increasingly over COVID.
Montana land trusts continue to exercise caution and follow state and local pandemic guidelines, but with Montana COVID cases dropping more and more MALT members are expanding outdoor — and even indoor — events as they adjust to new event opportunities and more acceptance for group gatherings.
Prickly Pear Land Trust announced earlier this week that — as its Don’t Fence Me In Trail Run and Challenge runs through June 1 — the PPLT Harvest Moon Banquet and Auction will take place live and in-person at the Kleffner Ranch on Sept. 16. More details will be announced soon, but Harvest Moon will offer PPLT supporters and community members to gather in person, with an online alternative, to participate in the event.
Everywhere from Sandpoint to Bozeman, and places in between, land trusts are slowly opening up more opportunities for in-person connections. In addition to holding a recent in-person staff retreat, Gallatin Valley Land Trust and Bozeman Health are leading a remarkable series of Discovery Walks (with participation limited and RSVPs encouraged, and social distancing in place) now through the end of June. From the GVLT website: “This year, we’re working with Montana Outdoor Science School, Sacajawea Audubon Society, and more to bring fun, educational, outdoor activities the whole family can enjoy. New to Bozeman? Interested in discovering new trails? Need a spring activity for the kids? Curious about water, geography, yoga, plants, trail running, or birds? We have a Discovery Walk for you!”
Kaniksu Land Trust has a multitude of upcoming in-person events scheduled, including Birds & Burritos on June 5, Folk School Jamboree on June 12, Let’s Go Birding on June 19 and Pairings in The Pines on July 8. In addition, the Kaniksu Folk School has a full schedule of 2021 events and activities set for community members.
Flathead Land Trust recently held small-group in-person natural resource tours, and its August 19 summer fundraising event, The Land Affair, will be held largely outdoors and in person.
Five Valleys Land Trust will hold its first Hands on the Land volunteering event on Saturday, June 5, to celebrate National Trails Day. The event starts at 2:00 PM and will be held at the Rock Creek Confluence property, and volunteers will help “spruce up” the universal access trail.
More and more Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation chapter banquets are being held in-person and Bitter Root Land Trust is partnering with Art Focus to hold “Plein Aire Under the Big Sky” to bring conservation and art together on August 20-22. Artists will participate in a paint-out at Severson’s Flying E Ranch, located east of Stevensville in the Burnt Fork. This historic cattle ranch was conserved in 2011 by Dan and Debbie Severson in partnership with the Bitter Root Land Trust. Scenic views of the Bitterroot Mountains can be seen from the hayfields that both cattle and wildlife call home.
The Sage Grouse Initiative earlier this week re-released a 2017 interview with Lisa McCauley, then the NRCS Conservation Easement Specialist in Montana and now an Easement Program Specialist for the NRCS in Washington, DC, and her information is still spot-on.
The interview, titled “How Do Conservation Easements Work?” is somewhat focused on sage grouse, but Lisa’s responses and perspectives still tell a compelling story about the value of land conservation for farm and ranch families, agricultural production, local economies, wildlife habitat and more.
Photo Caption: With help from NRCS conservation easement programs, The Nature Conservancy preserved this working ranch and sage-grass habitat on 16,000 acres in northeastern Montana
Prickly Pear Land Trust is a partner within the Summer Walk Series in Helena. The educational series of walks start June 8 and registration is open now. The walks are on Tuesday evenings and last about an hour. Walk groups are limited to 20 people.
Gallatin Valley Land Trust’s Discovery Walks are back on the trail. GVLT has scheduled more than 20 diverse walks on the greater Gallatin trail system now through the end of June. Check them out here.
An article from the USDA through its farmers.gov information service showcases an eastern Montana ranch conservation easement that includes a wonderful collection of quotes about the value of land conservation.
The article, titled The Value of Keeping it in Grass, written by Brianna Randall of the NRCS, profiles the Burke family (Kelly, Tami and their three children) and their 18,000-acre Desert Coulee Ranch.
Here’s a sampling of the quotes:
Tracy Cumber, NRCS district conservationist in Glasgow: “I’ve found that the Burkes are committed to this community, to their family, and to the future of agriculture. They decided an easement was the right decision to conserve their ranch not only for their own children but also for future generations.”
Kelly: “The most appealing aspect was the financial benefit. But I also like that this will stay intact as one ranch forever.”
Brian Martin, The Nature Conservancy: “Everything you need to do to operate a ranch is compatible with an easement. We’ve been successful because neighbors talk to neighbors. They see you can still raise cows with an easement, and that it benefits local families…It’s an easy win-win between ranching and conservation. We all value keeping it in grass, that’s the common thread.”
From a creative new video about Story Mill Community Park in Bozeman:
“(Story Mill Park was created as) a place to play, celebrate, and connect to nature and to one another for generations to come…our goal is to directly support equitable access to educational programs, community events and park features…(to give) everyone the opportunity to learn, play, and connect with nature.”
The Vital Ground Foundation has teamed up with the Humane Society Wildlife Trust to purchase 315 acres of important wildlife habitat in northwest Montana’s Yaak Valley, centered around Fowler Creek, a tributary of the Yaak River that is a well-traveled pathway for several wildlife species including elk, moose and grizzly bears.
The 315-acre property is located near Vital Ground’s Broadie Habitat Preserve, a 2020 project also completed with support from the Humane Society Wildlife Trust. The Fowler Creek project reflects Vital Ground’s One Landscape Initiative strategy, an effort to connect a single, regional landscape in the Northern Rockies and Inland Northwest. With clean water, lush vegetation and easy travel beneath big mountains, these special areas attract both bears and humans for good reason.
“Real estate markets throughout the Northern Rockies have never been under the kind of pressure they’re experiencing right now,” says Ryan Lutey, Vital Ground’s executive director. “You can bet that every acre of developable private land that is not already permanently protected for agriculture, open space or wildlife habitat is currently subject to some analysis of its highest and best use. That makes it extremely hard to compete against the speculative development pricing we’re seeing, but simultaneously increases the importance of every acre protected. With partners like the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust and projects like Fowler Creek, we continue to do our best to match pace with these challenges.”
