Conservation Strategies
Coordinating land conservation and stewardship to keep working landscapes intact.
There are a variety of public agencies, land trusts, nonprofit organizations, and private landowners working on conservation in the Blackfoot watershed. The Conservation Strategies Committee provides a forum for these individuals to exchange information, prioritize projects, pool resources, and leverage efforts. When Plum Creek Timber Company began selling land in the early 2000s, this committee began facilitating the community-driven process to convey those lands – nearly 300,000 acres – into new ownerships that would permanently protect natural resources, local livelihoods, public use, and community values.
Inset photo: Camille Coughlin
Explore Conservation Strategies
Click on one of the resources to learn more about land conservation collaboration in the Blackfoot.
Annual Meeting & Maps
The Conservation Strategies Committee provides a forum for the Blackfoot’s many conservation practitioners to identify, prioritize, and leverage conservation opportunities across the watershed.
Corporate Timberland in Transition
Plum Creek Timber Company was once the largest private landowner in the Blackfoot watershed. Over the past 25 years, the Challenge has facilitated a process with The Nature Conservancy to purchase these lands.
Conservation Easements
Conservation easements are a voluntary tool for private landowners to conserve the ecological values of their properties in perpetuity, and they have a long history of use in the Blackfoot watershed.
1
Watershed Landownership Map Produced
40
Private and Public Partners Participating
284,911
Acres of Former Industrial Timber Land Conserved
1
Guide to Conservation Easements Produced