Keep It Connected
The Rocky Mountain West is a geography of hope and opportunity. Today, we have enough wide-open spaces to support iconic wildlife, agricultural economies, and free-flowing rivers.
About
At its heart, The Heart of the Rockies Initiative is a land trust partnership. We work on several levels to support our land trust partners that are working with landowners to conserve private lands that are key to connected habitats and economically viable working lands. Keep It Connected is one of the ways Heart of the Rockies supports our land trusts partners to increase the pace of durable conservation in our region.
Keep It Connected is a plan by Heart of the Rockies Initiative and our 29 land trust members to strategically protect private land critical to retaining remaining wildlife connectivity—the vital ability for wildlife to move between habitats as seasonal temperatures and precipitation patterns change —across the transboundary Central Rocky Mountains of North America.
Private land conservation is crucial for maintaining open space important for agricultural production, wildlife habitat, and water availability. Land trusts know how to do this work, but need capital to scale up solutions to meet current challenges. Our collaboration helps increase the pace of private land conservation.
Land Trust Membership
The Heart of the Rockies Initiative supports 29 land trusts and partners with 13 private landowner led collaboratives that support and permanently protect private agricultural lands that are critical to maintaining existing and future habitat connectivity for grizzly bear, black bear, wolf, mountain lion, wolverine, Canada lynx, elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope and other native Rocky Mountain species.
Our 29 independent land trusts work in five states and two provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Washington.
Each land trust partner is deeply rooted in their local community and native ecosystem. They work only with willing landowners using voluntary agreements to conserve private land.
Keep It Connected Portfolio
Keep It Connected is a portfolio that includes active and ready private land conservation projects from our 29 land trusts members across our 315-million-acre transboundary region.
Heart of the Rockies initiative manages the portfolio. We are uniquely positioned to lead this strategic effort because of our strong relationships and trust with local and regional land trusts and landowners, local Tribes and government agencies. Our focus on current scientific information and our collaborative approach maintains these important relationships.
Fund Development
We work to bring new funding into the landscape to support land trust operations and conservation projects, making conservation dollars go farther by leveraging this with regional, state, and federal match.
Heart of the Rockies maintain a private Keep it Connected website for donors only. This provides a secure opportunity for donors to review connectivity projects that each land trust features.
All of our member land trust feature both an active and pipeline wildlife connectivity project on our website as the project due diligence with the property owners is completed. We feature individual project maps, photos and narratives for donors to review.
The Keep it Connected donor website is accessible by registration only to protect sensitive land trust and property owner information. Land trusts often make projects public after completion.
Science
We help bring the latest science so land trust can make strategic decisions about where to invest their limited time and resources.
The Keep it Connected team at the Initiative has also developed trusted relationships with state and federal agencies, and Tribes to gain access to sensitive wildlife data for use with our 29 land trust members. These data can include state wildlife telemetry data by species, wildlife migration models for each state and grizzly bear habitat connectivity models in partnership with the agencies and staff.
Our Conservation and GIS Manager uses these data to construct the connectivity narratives for each land trust project that is submitted. Each proposed wildlife connectivity project is first vetted by the Keep it Connected team and then by the Heart of the Rockies Foundation Board for approval before it is displayed on our donor website.
Policy
We work on policies that support landowners and land trust work.
Collaboration
We network and support each other through learning and mentorship.
Testimonials
Why
Private land ownership is the foundation of strong, rural ranches and farms. Many people who own and manage farms, ranches, and timberlands are willing partners in keeping their lands intact for wildlife habitat. Private lands tend to be lower in elevation and higher in productivity, with the best soils and water, and to be near riparian habitats, with the highest biodiversity. These areas are often the “link” between blocks of habitat, such as national forest, wilderness or roadless areas. These lands often represent critical deer, elk and pronghorn seasonal migration habitats.
Protecting these ecologically rich private lands not only benefits wildlife connectivity, biodiversity, private landowners, ranchers, and farmers, but it also benefits the rural community as a whole as well as the greater public. Additionally, some of the projects in the portfolio now offer the opportunity to support Indigenous partnerships.
Private working agricultural lands are the essential pieces that bind the greater landscape together, and land trusts are the key players in protecting those private lands. Land trusts bring the estate conservation tools needed for private landowners, ranchers, and farmers to conserve working landscapes while protecting wildlife habitat and connectivity. Land trusts protect private lands in perpetuity.
Land trusts work with willing landowners, meaning these landowners voluntarily give up their development rights in order to ensure their lands are conserved forever. As a result of two decades of capacity building, land trusts in our region have the relationships with landowners and credibility to make a significant contribution to conserving in the Central Rockies of North America.
Keep It Connected Success to Date
Funding Keep It Connected has raised since its launch in 2021
Acres Keep It Connected has protected since its launch in 2021
Keep It Connected offers perhaps the last best chance to conserve intact ecosystems that protect a full theater of wildlife and their habitats and the clean, rushing rivers that support salmon and other native fish along with nurturing vital human communities far downstream.
In today’s world of unprecedented residential growth and changing temperature and precipitation patterns, there is an urgent opportunity to narrow the financial gap and close a suite of projects that are critical for keeping remaining wildlife habitats connected.
Working lands are being lost at a rapid rate and are under increasing pressure every year. Time is of the utmost importance and the Initiative recognizes the urgency.
Our team will continue to support our 29 land trust members and local landowner- led collaboratives and seek new landowner and Tribal partnerships on these critical agricultural landscapes that exist in the spaces that connect our nation’s public lands.
Please join us!
Partners
Bear River Land Conservancy
- LTA Accreditation in process
- Established in 2011
- Region: Bear River Watershed, Utah
- Gabriel Murray, Operations Manager
Bitter Root Land Trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1996
- Region: Bitterroot Valley, Montana
- Gavin H. Ricklefs, Executive Director
The Conservation Fund
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1985
- Region: National
- Mark Elsbree, Montana and Northwest Director; Gates Watson, Montana State Director; and Dan Schlager, Wyoming State Director
Flathead Land Trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1985
- Region: Flathead Valley, Montana
- Paul Travis, Executive Director
Five Valleys Land Trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1972
- Region: Southwest Montana – Clark Fork, Blackfoot, Mission, Bitterroot, and Rock Creek river valleys
- Whitney Schwab, Executive Director
Gallatin Valley Land Trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1990
- Region: Montana headwaters of the Missouri and Upper Yellowstone Rivers
- Chet Work, Executive Director
Inland NW Land Conservancy
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1991
- Region: five counties in eastern Washington (Spokane, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens, and Adams) and two counties in northern Idaho (Kootenai and Bonner)
- Dave Schuab, Executive Director
Jackson Hole Land Trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1980
- Region: Teton, Sublette and Fremont counties, Wyoming
- Max Ludington, President
Kaniksu Land Trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 2002
- Region: Sanders County, Montana, and Bonner County, Idaho
- Katie Cox, Executive Director
Land Trust of the Treasure Valley
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1996
- Region: Treasure Valley, Idaho
- Eric Grace, Executive Director
The Nature conservancy of idaho
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1951
- Region: Idaho statewide
- Tess O'Sullivan, Land Conservation Strategy Lead
The nature conservancy of montana
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1962
- Region: Montana statewide
- Jim Berkey, High Divide Headwaters Director
Palouse Land trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1996
- Region: Benewah, Clearwater, Idaho, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, Shoshone counties in Idaho; Whitman county, Washington
- Lovina Englund, Executive Director
Payette land trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1994
- Region: Adams, Idaho, Valley, and Washington counties, Idaho
- Craig Utter, Executive Director
Prickly pear land trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1995
- Region: Lewis and Clark, Broadwater, and Jefferson counties, Montana
- Mary Hollow, Executive Director
Rocky Mountain Elk foundation
- Established in 1984
- Region: National
- Jennifer Doherty, Director of Lands
sagebrush steppe land trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 2004
- Region: Southeastern Idaho Counties of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Caribou, Franklin, Onieda, and Power
- Matt Lucia, Executive Director
southern Alberta Land Trust Society
- Established in 1998
- Region: Southern Alberta
- Justin Thompson, Executive Director
the vital ground foundation
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1990
- Region: International
- Ryan Lutey, Executive Director
wood river land trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 1994
- Region: Blaine, Butte, Camas, Custer, Elmore, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka counties, Idaho
- Scott Boettger, Executive Director
wyoming stock growers land trust
- LTA Accredited
- Established in 2000
- Region: Montana statewide
- Jessica Crowder, Executive Director
Photos courtesy of bynum and Iv