Sophia Barnes

Five Valleys Land Trust

Since 1972, Five Valleys Land Trust has been driven by our mission, "to protect for future generations Western Montana's natural legacy—our river corridors, wildlife habitat, agricultural lands and community open spaces." Five Valleys is focused on confronting the increasing challenges that face our Western Montana landscape: habitat fragmentation, conversion of open lands for development, a changing climate, degradation of our waterways, and a disconnect between people and the land. At the same time, we seek to connect protected lands while we connect people to those lands. Most of all, we strive to ensure that the connections we build today endure for future generations. Working collaboratively with private landowners, community organizations, and Tribal and governmental agencies, we seek to protect and steward lands providing high ecological, agricultural, and community importance, as well as provide and enhance public access to our community open spaces and trails. Five Valleys Land Trust is one the oldest land trusts in the Rocky Mountain West, is among the top 10% of land trusts for total acres protected, and has been accredited through the Land Trust Accreditation Commission since 2008. Since 1972 we have conserved nearly 100,000 acres of open lands, clean rivers, agricultural lands, and connected wildlife habitat. In 2022, Five Valleys is celebrating our 50th Anniversary and the nearly 100,000 acres of open lands we've protected across Western Montana.