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Similar Land Trust Alliance, The Trust for Public Land, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The Conservation Fund, Montana Conservation Corps Profiles | ||
Montana land reliance receives major gift from bnsf railway foundation
The Montana Land Reliance (MLR) is a nonprofit land trust established to acquire and manage conservation easements in the State of Montana. Headquartered in Helena, Montana, the organization holds 817 easements on 946,172 acres of private property across the state. MLR is privately funded, and in 2014, its assets totaled over $24 million. It is the largest land trust in the State of Montana, and the second largest in the United States.
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Mission and History
The Montana Land Reliance was founded in 1978. Its mission is to partner "with private landowners to permanently protect agricultural lands, fish and wildlife habitat, and open space." In 1981, when the organization penned its original mission, the Board and organization's leaders determined that “The immediate accomplishments of MLR’s conservation work are measured in miles of streambanks and acres of land and habitat protected. The lasting benefits of MLR’s work are the perpetuation of a lifestyle and an economy that rely on responsibly managed private land and increasingly valuable Montana open spaces that will continue to nourish the spirit of future generations." Although MLR has traditionally worked with agriculturalists to protect the environmental and economic integrity of Montana in the face of increased development, it has more recently found conservation allies in recreational landowners. Each of the organization’s easements contributes to the preservation of wildlife habitat and ecosystems, open space, and the economic and recreational land uses unique to the State of Montana.
Easements
Total acreage under easement: 946,172
Total acreage by resource
Miles of stream frontage protected: 1,614
Ruby Habitat Foundation
Montana Land Reliance has partnered with Ruby Habitat Foundation, a 509(a)(3) support organization for MLR, since 2002. The Foundation manages a 1,100-acre ranch in Sheridan, Montana, through which runs 4 miles of the Ruby River, a manmade spring creek, and Clear Creek, a braid of the Ruby. In addition to managing a fishing program for visitors from around the country, it is an experimental property on which the Foundation conducts experiments to prove the reconcilability of agricultural and recreational land uses.