Heart of the Rockies Initiative

As a land trust partnership, our primary program supports the work of our land trust members. In 2023, we operated a program to increase the pace of conservation of the most important private lands for wildlife connectivity. We helped increase the profile of local, private land conservations role in supporting communities, economies, natural systems, and wildlife populations at a large scale. We delivered the latest science to on-the-ground private land conservation practitioners on large landscape issues like connectivity, climate resilience, and productive agricultural lands at scales needed for local decisions.

Coordinated and convened the high divide collaborative a partnership of ranchers, local community leaders, public land managers, state wildlife managers, scientists, and conservation groups in a portion of Idaho and Montana for peer-to-peer learning, networking, fundraising opportunities, and conservation delivery. We supported and helped expand landowner-led wildlife conflict reduction efforts.

In 2023, the Conflict Reduction program grew out of the High Divide Collaborative into its own program. It ensures agricultural producers and rural communities have reliable and predictable access to resources that prevent conflicts with carnivores, benefiting wildlife and working lands. Unique among other regional efforts, Heart of the Rockies Initiative serves as a coordinator and convenor of local, state, and Tribal groups committed to carnivore conflict reduction, creating a ripple effect that allows our conservation community to achieve more together than any of us could alone.