The Public Lands Foundation presents the Grand Canyon Trust with a 2014 Landscape Stewardship Certificate of Appreciation 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 2005, the Grand Canyon Trust acquired the livestock grazing permits for large portions of lands managed by the BLM, including Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and House Rock Valley, and Forest Service managed lands on the North Kaibab Ranger District.  Since that time, personnel from Grand Canyon Trust have made significant contributions of time and effort to innovative landscape level programs, planning efforts and volunteer projects.

The most important of these efforts is the Kane and Two Mile Research and Stewardship Partnership. The Grand Canyon Trust personnel exhibited critical leadership to bring varied organizations together to sign a Memorandum of Understanding.  The partnership developed the “Kane and Two Mile Ranches Applied Research Plan” to outline “an integrated research agenda designed to inform land and resource management with sound science, enhancing the ability of management agencies to work with their partners and the public to integrate conservation objectives with the sustainable use of public lands on the Colorado Plateau.”

Grand Canyon Trust took the lead to implement this pioneering research plan and is doing so through a Research Design Plan.  The Design Plan is intended to establish the infrastructure necessary to answer the proposed research questions.

From 2008-2013, the Grand Canyon Trust was a critical partner with the BLM in controlling invasive species along the Paria River within Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. Thousands of hours of staff and volunteers were contributed by Grand Canyon Trust to improve wilderness characteristics in this remote area.  Grand Canyon Trust also produced an informational brochure about the project that includes interpretive information about Paria Canyon and riparian habitat.  Hikers that obtain permits to hike in Paria Canyon are given the brochure as part of their permit.

From 2012-2013, the Grand Canyon Trust collaborated with Friend of The Cliffs to compile new and existing plant distribution information for Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and make this information publicly available online. It recruited volunteers from the local area and other communities in northern Arizona that contributed hundreds of hours to this effort.  Volunteers and botanists collected over 1,000 plant species and documented 32 new populations of rare and endemic plants.

The Public Lands Foundation is pleased to present the Grand Canyon Trust with its 2014 Landscape Stewardship Certificate of Appreciation and this Citation for invaluable contributions to the stewardship of America’s public landscapes.

September 9, 2014