Montana

American Bird Conservancy
Advancing Grassland Bird Conservation through Landowner Outreach (MT, SD)
Promote educational opportunities and land stewardship activities in the Northern Great Plains by offering workshops and providing conservation technical assistance, developing conservation plans, and assisting private landowners in enrolling in Farm Bill programs. Project will enhanced landowner knowledge of grassland conservation and soil health, implement sustainable wildlife-compatible management across the project area, and restore and improve management practices on 3,500 acres.
$188,813

Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation
Improving Grassland Habitat on the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation (MT)
Enhance, protect and preserve the natural resources on the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation in north-central Montana while protecting the rights of all tribal members, promoting sustainability, and providing for economic opportunity and education. Project will improve grassland connectivity and restore habitat by altering grazing management, using prescribed burning and modifying 19 miles of fencing.
$220,000

Clark Fork Coalition
Water Transaction Development in the Clark Fork River Basin (MT)
Identify, implement and monitor water transactions in the Clark Fork basin of Montana. Project will improve stream flows and aquatic habitat conditions for native trout.
$179,776

Climate Conservation
Building Resilience with the Aaniih and Nakoda Nations (MT)
Increase ecological resilience in the Little Rockies by applying adaptive management techniques to restore ponderosa pine forests and protect irreplaceable cultural sites. Project will restore 300 acres and engage 450 community members through collaborative learning and outreach to encourage the community and regional leaders to prioritize adaptive management across all programs, with forest restoration serving as a visible example of resilience and opportunity.
$261,470

Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation
Support for Water Transfers to Instream Flows (MT)
Assist organizations developing water transactions with review and coordination of project proposals. Project will efficiently process instream flow water right change applications to legally protect instream water acquired through water right transactions.
$46,410

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
Collaborating with Landowners on Black-Footed Ferret Conservation on Private Working Lands (MT)
Work with landowners to eliminate human-caused mortality of prairie dogs on private working lands in southeast Montana to maintain a stable food supply for black-footed ferret populations. Project will maintain habitat and introduce black-footed ferrets on 4,500 acres.
$285,055

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
Employing an Integrated Weed Management Approach to Restore Big Game Wintering Habitat (MT)
Implement an Integrated Weed Management approach to enhance elk, mule deer, and pronghorn habitat on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. Project will improve forage quantity and quality on more than 260,000 acres of big game winter range.
$299,958

Montana State University
Filling Demographic Information Gaps for the Declining McCown’s Longspur (MT)
Identify population limiting factors for the McCown’s longspur and the actions needed to slow and reverse the population decline. Project will assess high-priority information gaps on the breeding and migratory demographics of longspurs using native mixed-grass prairie, fallow fields and planted crop lands in northeastern Montana and restore 1,000 acres of marginal cropland to native grassland cover.
$194,064

National Audubon Society
Increase Collaboration of Sagebrush Conservation (multiple states)
Strategically coordinate internal and external communication between a wide range of stakeholders committed to improving communications about the sagebrush ecosystem to elevate not only individual efforts but also the larger dialog about the value and need for sagebrush conservation. Project will bring 100 acres of sagebrush habitat under improved management, develop media resources for community stakeholders and host field tour events that elevate on-the-ground conservation.
$29,636

National Wildlife Federation
Approaches to Mitigate Fencing for Wildlife Movement (MT)
Improve habitat conditions through restoration, conservation and modifying fencing to improve movement and survival for pronghorn and other ungulates. Project will coordinate fence mitigation efforts in southwest Montana and guide landscape-level mitigation efforts.
$83,040

Prickly Pear Land Trust
Conserving Private Grasslands through an Agricultural Land Easement Coordinator (MT)
Build on past success by sustaining the Agricultural Land Easement Coordinator position that is shared between the Montana Association of Land Trusts and the Natural Resource Conservation Service to facilitate coordination between the entities and increase the number of volunteer conservation easements on private land in Montana. Project will bring 60,000 acres under permanent conservation easements.
$234,282

Ranchers Stewardship Alliance
Enhancing and Protecting Grasslands through Technical Assistance for Ranchers (MT)
Coordinate between the ranching and conservation communities in Blaine, Phillips and Valley counties, Montana, offering a suite of technical and financial tools for landowners. Project will improve management on 5,700 acres of grassland habitat to maintain a core grazing landscape.
$298,888

Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
Implement a Radio Telemetry Network in the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert to Monitor Grassland Birds (multiple states)
Implement a network of automated radio telemetry stations throughout the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert to monitor the annual cycle of grassland birds, including Baird’s sparrow, Sprague’s pipit and chestnut-collared longspur. Project will initiate this effort by holding webinars to recruit and train partners and develop a plan to track grassland birds across the region, install telemetry stations to track focal species, and deploy tags on focal species.
$250,000

Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
Monitoring Grassland Bird Population Responses to Investments in the Northern Great Plains (MT, ND, NE, SD, WY)
Continue evaluating the impacts of NFWF-funded conservation easement and grazing management projects on priority grassland bird species in the Northern Great Plains. Project will compare density, population size, and trend of priority grassland birds between NFWF projects and controls within the Northern Great Plains region.
$372,899

The Nature Conservancy
Expanding the Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances Program to Protect Grasslands (MT)
Expand the Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances program to enter into voluntary agreements with landowners to conserve habitat for greater sage-grouse and multiple grassland bird species in the Missouri-Milk River Grasslands. Project will improve 26 miles of fencing to wildlife-friendly specifications, restore 5 acres of riparian habitat and improve management on 50,000 acres.
$142,178

The Nature Conservancy
Increasing the Pace and Scale of Sagebrush and Mesic Habitat Restoration (MT)
Increase the pace and scale of sagebrush habitat restoration in mesic seeps and streams in southwest Montana by developing a systematic, basin-scale inventory of mesic sites, funding a conservation coordinator position and advancing on-the-ground projects to restore habitats for sagebrush-obligate species. Project will implement a robust monitoring program, restore 150 acres of habitat on public lands and install 200 structures to improve hydrology on 15 acres of mesic habitat.
$60,133

The Trust for Public Land
Conserving Habitat Connectivity in Kootenai Forestlands with a Permanent Conservation Easement (MT)
Place a permanent conservation easement on nearly 30,000 acres of critical wildlife habitat, prime fisheries and highly productive timberland near the City of Libby in Lincoln County, Montana. Project will conserve habitat and landscape-scale connections for big game winter range and migration corridors, public access to outdoor recreation, protect clean drinking water for nearby communities, and sustain local jobs in the timber and outdoor recreation industries.
$300,000

Trout Unlimited
Restoring, Reconnecting and Protecting Instream Flow in the Upper Clark Fork Basin (MT)
Develop water right leases and transactions that work to augment streamflow and critical habitat for native trout species, including bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout, throughout the Clark Fork River basin, Blackfoot River and Bitterroot River subbasins. Project will reconnect key tributaries to their mainstems and restore chronically dewatered stream reaches.
$124,034

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Miles City Field Office
Improving Habitat Connectivity for Pronghorn and Mule Deer by Modifying Fences (MT)
Facilitate pronghorn and mule deer movement and reduce neonatal mortality on Bureau of Land Management lands throughout eastern Montana. Project will modify 14 miles of fence in big-game winter ranges to wildlife friendly specifications.
$50,000

World Wildlife Fund
Restoring Grasslands on Private Lands (MT)
Recruit and implement restoration projects and to collect soil carbon data to monitor changes in ecosystem function at restoration sites on private lands in Blaine, Phillips and Valley counties in Montana. Project will restore more than 3,622 acres of marginal cropland to grassland.
$266,206

World Wildlife Fund
Securing Black-Footed Ferret Populations Through Sylvatic Plague Mitigation (MT, SD)
Establish a population of black-footed ferrets protected from sylvatic plague in the Missouri-Milk River Grasslands, Montana and central South Dakota. Project will improve the status of 20 black-footed ferrets at two reintroduction sites, recover prairie dog habitat lost to sylvatic plague at a third site, and set the stage to establish a new ferret population on private lands.
$271,946