Land Trust News

PAL is short for the Public Access Land program, a new voluntary, incentive-based public access option administered by Montana FWP that was passed during the 2019 Montana Legislative Session with MALT’s support. PAL is a cooperative program to engage with landowners to open up currently inaccessible or hard to access public land.

The PAL initial application period is open until May 25.

From the Montana FWP website: The Public Access Land Agreement program is a creative way for landowners to provide public access to public lands for hunting and/or fishing, in exchange for a payment and other negotiated improvements to facilitate public access to public lands.

The FWP website spells out who is eligible, the basic provisions of the program, and the proposal review and approval process. Landowners may receive up to $15,000 annually for entering into a PAL agreement. Applications are reviewed by the Public Lands/Private Wildlife Advisory Committee and approved by the FWP director.

Flathead Land Trust’s conservation easement with Dean Robbins on land along Wiley Slough south of Kalispell will “pass the legacy of open space for wildlife and farming on to future generations.”

The 26-acre donated conservation easement is not large in size, but it is large in conservation value: The parcel stretches along 928 feet of the wetland’s shoreline and is adjacent to another 1,235 acres of previously protected land.

The Kalispell Daily Interlake reports, According to the Flathead Lakers, a nonprofit organization that aims to protect the Flathead Watershed, these sloughs are used by a great number of migratory waterfowl, osprey, upland game birds, great blue heron and double-crested cormorants. They are also important habitats for river otter and other wildlife that travel along the river.

At Wiley Slough, an intact strip of riparian and wetland vegetation around the minimizes disturbances during critical migration periods. The open space provided by the farms also supports valuable wildlife habitat.

Momentum is building in Washington, DC, and across the country around an effort to include the Great American Outdoors Act – which includes a provision for permanent full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund – in the next major COVID-19 stimulus package considered by Congress.

Some evidence of that momentum:

* A May 7 article in E&E News under the headline “Could outdoors bills get an inside track in stimulus?” reports growing public and congressional support for inclusion of the GAOA (S. 3422) in whatever pandemic response legislation Congress develops next. The article reports Montana Senator Steve Daines is actively pushing for Congress to pass the GAOA. Daines is a LWCF leader in Congress.

* The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, a national group dedicated to outdoor recreation, has voiced strong support for inclusion of the GAOA in any congressional stimulus legislation.

* Over 100 local officials from 11 western states (including Montana) recently signed a letter urging Congress to include full permanent LWCF funding in the next economic stimulus package.

* Over 800 businesses and organizations (including Montana) have signed a GAOA support letter urging Congress to view the GAOA as a legislative priority.

 The timing of congressional action on a pandemic response stimulus remains uncertain, and the legislation’s contents are a long way from being finalized, but the belief is there will be a congressionally-approved stimulus bill sometime in the near future. And there is a broad, bipartisan, committed group working to include the GAOA in the stimulus package.

Montana Senator Jon Tester is also a longstanding LWCF leader.

Several Montana communities and almost all the MALT membership were part of 2020 late April and early May charitable “Giving” events throughout the state. Several Montana land trusts posted social media and organizational “Thank Yous” to their community supporters and donors. Here’s a sample, from the The Trust for Public Land, thanking people for TPL charitable “Giving” support:

Thank you Gallatin Valley for showing up and giving BIG to support our community’s fantastic non-profits and our Story Mill Community Park FUND. Our community, our fantastic volunteers, our network of partners – in particular Treeline Coffee … From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!

MALT also extends its thanks to everyone who is supporting land trusts and Montana private land conservation.

The Nature Conservancy in Montana, the Montana Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program, the NRCS, and landowner Bryant Jones have officially finalized a roughly 4,000-acre conservation easement that protects sage grouse habitat and grasslands in southwest Montana. The Willow Basin Ranch project was approved for state sage grouse conservation funding in 2019 by the Montana Sage Grouse Oversight Team, and by the Natural Resources Conservation Service for Agricultural Land Easement Program funding through the Farm Bill.

“Our nearest neighbors are fifteen miles away,” says Jones. “I love the solitude and rugged untouched spirit the area has. It’s a unique and undeveloped corner of the world. I want to keep it that way.”

The Willow Basin easement is one of two recently completed in the High Divide by The Nature Conservancy in Montana. Together they secure nearly 7,000 acres of superb wildlife habitat as well as the future of these family ranches. These latest two easements are part of nearly 40,000 acres that TNC has secured since the winter of 2018.

“We are pleased to conserve what is essentially a ‘working wilderness’ where both wildlife and families who have been ranching for generations can both thrive,” says Jim Berkey, TNC’s High Divide Headwaters director. “These families are helping keep this vital habitat intact while helping feed the country.”

Montana TNC also reported it recently partnered with the USFWS and a central Montana landowner to conserve an additional 6,311 acres in Montana’s Northern Great Plains.   

Jim Berkey/TNC Photo

Prickly Pear Land Trust executive director Mary Hollow’s guest column in the Sunday, May 3, Helena Independent Record makes a case for quick passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. Among the provisions within the Great American Outdoors Act is full permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

“When our leaders in Congress established LWCF 56 years ago, little did they know that their bipartisan commitment to safeguarding our natural areas would be one of the constants for their children and grandchildren in a COVID-19 reality,” writes Hollow. “From Glacier and Yellowstone National parks to eastern Montana, our pristine outdoors feed our souls but they also drive this state’s economy. LWCF delivers pristine wildlife habitat and urban parks alike. It bridges rural urban divides, and Montana’s future economic and physical well-being depends on it; because our outdoor places fuel commerce for our Main Street businesses and large enterprises alike.”

“Today, as Congress works toward passing another COVID-19 package, they have the opportunity to pass the Great American Outdoors Act to fully fund LWCF, take care of the lands we love, and make smart investments in natural infrastructure that fuels our economy. Those investments will pay dividends for our natural systems –  and the generations who inhabit them – forever,” she adds.

The Vital Ground Foundation and partners have conserved 215 acres of critical wildlife habitat in northwestern Montana along the Yaak River. It’s a relatively small number of acres that produces a large positive impact.

With the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust providing a grant to enable the project, Vital Ground has purchased 215 acres of prime grizzly habitat along the Yaak River and Lap Creek, establishing the Broadie Habitat Preserve. Beyond helping grizzlies, the effort will support a mosaic of biodiversity, including the nationally threatened Canada lynx and bull trout along with state-designated species of concern such as wolverine and Westslope cutthroat trout.

“Between the Yaak River and Lap Creek, nearly a mile’s worth of stream frontage occurs on the property, which illustrates how even a modestly-sized acquisition like this can provide outsized conservation benefits,” says Ryan Lutey, Vital Ground’s executive director. “Protection of this important river bottom can help filter and store water to augment downstream water quality, and its location at the confluence of these two streams provides high quality fish habitat while meeting important seasonal needs for wildlife species that range far beyond the property’s boundaries.”

Gallatin Valley Land Trust in Bozeman has officially acquired a 160-acre parcel within the Middle Cottonwood Trail access corridor that will ensure permanent access along the trail and also conserve wildlife habitat. GVLT plans to donate the property to the USFS, which manages the Middle Cottonwood Trail and the surrounding public land. Check out the Bozeman Daily Chronicle coverage.

“This property is a gem and is a tremendous resource for the community. It took a willing and dedicated land owner committed to conservation to get this done,” said Brendan Weiner, Program Director at GVLT. The property appraised for $752,000 and the landowner – Michael Skogen – donated over half of the property value towards the project.

The scenic property is located in the West Bridger Mountains, approximately six miles northeast of Bozeman. The community will now have public access to all 160 acres of the highly scenic parcel, where trail users have spotted an array of wildlife including mule deer, elk, moose, mountain goats, and eagles. A pristine, spring-fed creek flows through the property to Middle Cottonwood Creek, surrounded by aspen groves and mature forests. Previous development proposals for the property have recommended moving the trail, but GVLT’s purchase permanently removes the threat of development.

“Development of the property would result in significant negative impacts to the trail corridor and the surrounding habitat and would dramatically change the trail user experience,” said Weiner. “We are thrilled to have the acquisition complete.”

From the Bonner County Bee: “Nature is open. Play it safe.” That is the message from Idaho land trusts that operate nature reserves open to the public across Idaho. Kaniksu Land Trust, based in Sandpoint, ID, is a member of the Montana Association of Land Trusts.

“It is heartening to see more people getting outdoors with their families during these difficult times,” said Katie Cox, executive director of the Kaniksu Land Trust in Sandpoint. “While our visitors are enjoying these beautiful places, we ask them to follow guidelines for responsible outdoor recreation, including maintaining appropriate social distance on trails.”

Kaniksu Land Trust owns and manages Pine Street Woods, a 180-acre forest that features community outdoor education, recreational hiking/biking/skiing trails, and conservation.

Photo from Kaniksu Land Trust

The COVID-19 pandemic is prompting many unpleasant and unfortunate responses and actions, but within all the negatives is a positive, at least in the Missoula area: More people are purchasing local beef. And some of that local beef comes from Oxbow Cattle Co., owned by Bart and Wendy Morris. Five Valleys Land Trust and Oxbow Cattle finalized a conservation easement on the ranch in 2017, and the Morris’ received the 2019 Missoula County Land Stewardship Award. 

“For us, business is really good,” said co-owner/manager Bart Morris in a Missoulian article. “We lost a lot of restaurants, which breaks our heart, but our little store and direct sales are doing really good.”

Later in the article, Morris says they’re seeing a lot of growth in housing around the ranch, and he hopes to be the local meat supplier for his neighbors. “We’re hoping to be here for a long time,” he said. “We got a lot of different things going on, a lot of community-based things.”