THE PUBLIC LANDS FOUNDATION presents the Upper Snake River Land Conservation Project with its 2010 Landscape Stewardship Award and this Citation.  The Foundation grants this recognition to honor private citizens and organizations that work to advance and sustain community-based stewardship on landscapes that include, in whole or in part, public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

In 1998, The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the Teton Regional Land Trust formed The Upper Snake River Land Conservation Partnership with BLM in response to imminent threats of subdivision and resort development, the great potential of many conservation projects across a large geographic scope, and the diversity of landowners along the Snake River corridors and Henry’s Lake.

Through the efforts of these organizations, approximately 81 privately owned properties, many of them working farms and ranches, have been protected through purchase of 10,230 acres of fee estate and 14,292 acres of conservation easement.

Thus far, the Partnership has leveraged approximately $54 million from diverse funding sources and is using a combination of acquisition strategies to assist BLM.  The nonprofit partners also have augmented BLM’s limited acquisition and legal staff.  And, they provide negotiation experience and skills to facilitate complex and sensitive acquisitions, ensure that the needs of landowners and BLM are met, provide a qualified legal staff to craft conservation easements and fee-title acquisitions acceptable to landowners and BLM, and assist BLM with conservation easement stewardship issues.

The nonprofit organizations collaborate as a team with BLM to acquire key properties from willing landowners to secure and preserve open space and public recreational access within Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. They also participate in the long-term stewardship responsibilities of conservation easements, maintain landowner relations, cooperate in annual conservation easement compliance visits, and assist in preparing conservation easement stewardship reports.

The Public Lands Foundation is pleased to present the Upper Snake River Land Conservation Partnership with this Citation and its 2010 Landscape Stewardship Award for invaluable contributions to the stewardship of America’s public landscapes.                                                                                                               

September 15, 2010