Land Trust Member Profile: Bitter Root Land Trust

By Heart of the Rockies Initiative
May 15, 2025
Uncategorized

Mission & Key Programs

The Bitter Root Land Trust (BRLT) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that works to protect the water, wildlife, working farms and ranches, and access to recreational lands that connect people to the beautiful open lands of the Bitterroot Valley, Montana.

BRLT partners with willing landowners to implement voluntary conservation easements on privately owned property. This includes farms and ranches that feed our families with fresh produce and beef, timbered forests that provide critical wildlife habitat, open space for community parklands that provide endless recreation opportunities, and the crystal-clear Bitterroot River that provides clean drinking water and healthy fisheries.

service area

The Bitter Root Land Trust is based in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, a 96-mile long corridor that runs north and south with the Bitterroot mountains on the west and the Sapphire mountains on the east. Formed by the East Fork and West Fork rivers at the south end, the Bitterroot River winds its way through the middle of the valley north to the Clark Fork and Missoula. While the Bitter Root Land Trust office is located in Hamilton, our work stretches throughout the entire Bitterroot Valley – from Lolo to the north and Sula to the south, and everywhere in between.

unique in the central rocky mountains

From the mid-1800s, the Bitterroot Valley has had a strong ranching and farming heritage with its rich, fertile soils. Today, the valley is a modern blend of productive agricultural lands, working ranches, and pristine wildlife habitat. The Bitterroot River and its tributaries provide some of the cleanest drinking water in the country, as well as blue-ribbon trout fly fishing.

Since the late 1990s, certain Bitterroot communities have built conservation momentum which has resulted in what has been nationally recognized as a model of contiguous conservation easements. Landowners, their friends and neighbors have driven this success — particularly in the Burnt Fork area of Stevensville, which has over seven miles and 7,000 acres of contiguous, protected ranchlands today.

“Preserving this land is huge to us. It’s an essential piece to keeping this place ‘home.’ My family homesteaded here, which is why there’s sentimental value for this place. When you take a drive and see the deer and the elk, it’s beautiful — all of the wildlife. It is awesome that this one chunk of land will stay the same and hopefully have our children, and our children’s children, grow up on this piece of land. You can tell that the folks that at the Bitter Root Land Trust believe in what they’re doing. The [Bitter Root] Land Trust played a big part in us getting to move forward and live out this dream – and hopefully give our kids the opportunity to continue this as well. It would be amazing to see 20 years from now someone still working this land and have it look even better than it does today.”