Site Visit Recap | Bitterroot Valley in Montana

Photos and story by: Sabrina Chui, Project Associate

Clear blue skies and stunning snow-covered mountains were the back-drop to a recent Blue Forest visit to Missoula and Hamilton, Montana, to discuss our work on a cross-boundary Forest Resilience Bond for the Bitterroot Valley. Since 2020, Blue Forest has been exploring conservation finance opportunities in Montana, developing connections with multiple national forests in Region 1.

In late 2022, the Forest Service R1 Regional Office, DNRC, the Bitterroot National Forest, and Blue Forest decided to develop a cross-boundary Forest Resilience Bond pilot project that includes parts of the Mud Creek Project on the Bitterroot National Forest as well as private lands in Ravalli County. In January 2023, the Blue Forest team traveled to Montana to meet with U.S. Forest Service staff, Montana Department of Natural Resource Conservation (DNRC) partners as well as many local organizations. This site visit was an exciting next step to meet local partners in person, build trust within the community, and engage more stakeholders in this project.

The Blue Forest team is eager to focus our efforts on this landscape because,  according to the Montana Wildfire Risk Assessment Report published by DNRC, Ravalli County is at the highest risk for wildfire in the state. Federal lands constitute 73.6 percent of Ravalli County and much of these lands are areas with the highest wildfire potential, particularly in the southern Bitterroot Valley. In order to reduce this high risk to local communities, watersheds and wildlife, the pace and scale of restoration on both public and private lands must increase rapidly.

The Bitterroot Valley Cross-Boundary Forest Resilience Bond (FRB) aims to blend DNRC and federal contributions with beneficiary funding to increase the scale of work done on public lands, support private landowners in treating their properties through the Bitter Root Resource Conservation and Development Area, Inc. (RC&D) and increase efficiencies by aggregating work across property boundaries. Part of this vision includes adding capacity by hiring a Pheasants Forever Project Coordinator in order to provide support with implementation and to relieve administrative and contracting burdens for private landowners.

With the presence of many active local organizations in this region, the Blue Forest project development team and our Pheasants Forever co-hire, Michael Brown, wanted to make sure that our development of the cross-boundary Bitterroot FRB would add value and capacity in a meaningful way. As a result, Blue Forest, Pheasants Forever and the Bitterroot National Forest organized a large partner meeting to ensure that local organizations and agencies were aware of the cross-boundary vision and had the opportunity to ask questions and provide input on the Bitterroot FRB. The meeting was well-attended and participants were enthusiastic about the potential opportunities presented.

In addition to the large partner meeting, our team also took the time to individually meet with other organizations such as Pyrologix and Intermountain West Joint Venture to discuss wildfire and water benefit modeling opportunities. Members of our team also sat down with DNRC to work on developing a grant agreement between DNRC and Pheasants Forever.

The Blue Forest team was very grateful to have the opportunity to meet with so many of our partners and see the landscape in person. We left Montana with many next steps and are looking forward to continuing to support and learn from our local partners in the development of the Bitterroot Valley Cross-Boundary Forest Resilience Bond.