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Protecting the heart of the valley...now and for the future.
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woodriverlandtrust
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P h o t o c r e d i t : T e s s O ’ S u l l i v a n , L a v a L a k e I n s t i t u t e f o r S c i e n c e a n d C o n s e r v a t i o n
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Wood River Land Trust’s success as a local conservation organization hasspanned over 15 years. Through the years, we have been ortunate to beinvolved in conservation eorts with other respected nonproft groups.Recent collaborations in the Pioneer Mountains area illustrate the valueo combining resources and knowledge.
Continued on page 4.
Partnerships or the Pioneer Mountains
winter 2009
Photo credit: Mike Stevens, Lava Lake Institute for Science and Conservation
who we are
Meet Our Board
John French
temming rom their rst visit to theWood River Valley in 1970, John and hiswie Elaine kept returning to the valley they’dgrown to love. They built a home here in 1989and relocated rom Caliornia or good a ewyears ago. John is committed to doing what he canto protect the Wood River Valley and sae-guard or his children and grandchildren thevalley experiences he has enjoyed over theyears. He donated a conservation easement on their ranch in Picabo andcontinues his eorts to protect Silver Creek as it fows through the ranch.With a love or fy shing and bird hunting, John knows the importanceo protected open space and wildlie habitat noting, “I’ve seen rst handthe value o land stewardship.” John graduated rom Harvard College with a degree in architectureater which he spent six years in the Marine Corps, fying ghter planesin Vietnam. He then graduated rom Harvard Business School and, atera 30-year career in real estate investment, sold his company and retiredin 2001.Over the years John has given back to his community in a variety o ways and to a variety o organizations, including the Land Trust. For morethan 10 years John has been on the Board o the Yosemite Institute, anorganization that brings thousands o children to Yosemite each year tolearn environmental science. He also continues to serve on the Board o the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund and multiple Harvard committees.As a member o the Board o Directors since October, 2008, his ex-perience, knowledge, and dedication to land conservation will help theLand Trust continue to grow and succeed.
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John French
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s our new Conservation Project andOutreach Assistant, Sam startedworking with Wood River Land Trust inSeptember, 2009, and will be with us until July, 2010. He will conduct outreach andeducational workshops to increase localawareness o Land Trust work to protect theBig Wood River and coordinate the TroutFriendly Lawn program. Besides providingeducational opportunities on water conser-vation and protection, Sam will assist sta with riparian restoration projects.Sam grew up exploring the salt marsh-es and woodlands o Ipswich, MA. Hereceived a bachelor’s degree rom HuxleyCollege o the Environment at WesternWashington University with a concentra-tion in Sustainable Development and aminor in Sustainable Design. The last twoyears he was a ski patroller at Mt. Bakerin Washington and a river guide on theSalmon River. His travels and volunteerwork have taken him to New Zealand,China, Guatemala, Greece, and Sao Tomeand Principe.With his interest in Idaho land useplanning and water issues, he is consideringcontinuing his education at the Universityo Idaho. We are pleased that Sam is settledin to our employee housing, the newly reno-vated Anderson House next door.
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Meet Our Sta
Sam Phillips
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Sam Phillips, Conservation Project& Outreach Assistant
he Wood River Land Trust was established in1994. In celebrating our 15th anniversary thisyear, we have relected on how the Land Trust haschanged as it has grown. We have become a morecollaborative organization working with other con-servation groups and government entities includingthe state, the Forest Service, and the Bureau o Land Management in projects that are too large orany one conservation group to tackle alone. ThePioneers Alliance, described in the cover page arti-cle o this newsletter, is an example o how the LandTrust is working eectively with other organizationson a major land conservation project.Success in the Pioneers Alliance will takemany years but irst steps have been taken—asshown by the pronghorn study and in the LandTrust’s Porcupine Creek conservation easement thatprotects public access into the Pioneer Mountainsrom the south. But working with landowners in thePioneers Alliance area to help them protect theirranches and arms and preserve their way o lie willtake a big cooperative eort by all o the organiza-tions in the Alliance and the related governmentalagencies. It will take a good deal o money as well.As 2009 draws rapidly to an end, I ask that i you have not made a git to the Land Trust this year,please do so now. We want to bring a successulconclusion to our $300,000 Challenge Grant thatbrings in 50 cents or every $1.00 in unrestrictedcontributions made beore the clock strikes twelveon New Year’s Eve.Thank you or your support.
Best wishes for thecoming Holidays!
Ed Cutter, President
Letter rom Ed Cutter,Board President
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hether it’s hauling coolers at theHoward Community Picnic, art-ully fipping burgers at the 4th o JulyBBQ at Anderson House, or helping hisellow Trout Unlimited board membersclean up Boxcar Bend, volunteer DickHay is always there to lend a helpinghand. On behal o the sta and Board o Directors, thank you, Dick, or your hardwork and kind presence.
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Dick Hay at Boxcar Bend work day
Volunteer Lunch
ood River Land Trust is building a volunteer commit-tee. Please join us on Friday, January 15th, or a lightlunch to learn about volunteer opportunities, help us develop aprogram, and give a unique name to our group. We will meet atthe recently renovated Anderson House, our employee housingnext door to the oce. Please RSVP to Diane Kahm, 788-3947or dkahm@woodriverlandtrust.org.
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Budweiser and the National Fish and Wildlie will donate $50,000 to the2010 Conservationist o the Year to be selected rom a list o our inalists. We are proud to announce that Land Trust Board member John French,proiled above, is one o these inalists.The winner and their conservation organization will use the money tound conservation projects o their choosing. The three runners up will eachreceive a $5000 grant to continue their conservation work as well. John’s interest in conservation ranges rom reshwater ecology toclimate change, and when John puts his eorts behind something,it usually happens! You can vote or John or 2010 Conservationisto the Year at
www.budweiser.com
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Volunteer Spotlight
Dick Hay
Vote or the 2010 Conservationist o the Year
his year, anonymous donors and our Boardo Directors together have pledged $150,000 towards our protection o local land, water, and wildlie habitat. To earn this amount, however, wemust raise $300,000 in unrestricted donations by December 31st. This means that every dollar youdonate beore the end o the year will be matchedby an additional $0.50. Your unrestricted dona- tions help pay or the basic necessities - the dedi-cated proessional sta, oice space, and generaloice needs - that make our work possible. The Year-End Challenge makes every dollar o your support go even urther in the protection o the Valley’s land, water, and wildlie habitat. Pleasehelp us reach our goal today!
9th Annual Year-EndChallenge Goal:$300,000
We are over 1/3of the way tomeet our Challenge
Year-End Challengemakes every dollarof your supportgo even further!
CHALLENGE GRANT 2009
It’s not too late to help us reach our goal!
Wood River Land Trust is a tax-exempt non-profit organization; donations are tax-deductible.
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what we do
he Pioneer Mountains and Craterso the Moon area, almost 2 millionacres o private and public lands east o the Wood River Valley, is an unspoiledregion o Idaho. The area supports work-ing ranches and abundant wildlie, andprovides public access or hunting, ishingand other recreational activities. ManyIdaho landscapes have been impacted byenergy and residential development, butthe Pioneers/Craters area remains rela-tively untouched. With this once in alietime opportunity to protect a large-scale diversiied ecosystem, the PioneersAlliance (PA) coalesced to create a visionor these wild spaces, the legacy o amily-owned working lands, and the area’s smallcommunities.The Alliance was ormed in 2007 overconcerns that growth pressures like thosein the Wood River Valley would inevita-bly impact the irreplaceable natural, eco-nomic, and cultural values in the Pioneersregion. The PA consists o landowners,ranchers, local residents, scientists, agencyrepresentatives, conservation organiza-tions, and others concerned about theuture o the area.The Land Trust has been involvedwith the Alliance since its inception.Scott Boettger, Executive Director o the Land Trust, believes the Allianceis a great opportunity to use long-termlocal knowledge to work collaborativelyon big-picture, regional conservation.“It’s an eort,” he notes, “that bringssmall organizations like the Land Trusttogether with larger groups to representlocal values and interests.” Our 2009acquisition o the Porcupine Creekproperty east o Hailey is a response—and commitment—to local interest inpublic access to and protection o thePioneer Mountains.Since this is a region-wide eort,town hall meetings have been con-vened on a regular basis by the Allianceor discussions about issues key to theuture o the Pioneers area. Topics cov-ered include preserving amily ranchesand arms, local economic develop-ment, conservation, wildlie and hunt-
Continued rom cover
Partnerships or the Pioneer Mountains
n October, 2008, researchers rom Hailey-based LavaLake Institute or Science and Conservation, WildlieConservation Society (WCS), and Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG)put GPS collars on 10 emale pronghorn antelope in the oothillso the Pioneer Mountains to track their daily progress duringwinter migration. What researchers discovered was a migra-tion route that ranks as one o the longest overland routes or aland mammal in the Western Hemisphere. The 160-mile roundtrip passes through south-central Idaho, including the PioneerMountains and Craters o the Moon National Monument, andreaches the Beaverhead Mountains at the continental divideThe study to date produced unexpected results. It was notonly the length o the migration that was a surprise to research-ers, but the majority o antelope traveled arther east (to BirchCreek and the Little Lost River) and then north rather thansouth. The Pioneer Mountains pronghorn eventually gatheredwith other Idaho herds to overwinter in the Birch Creek area;the congregation in this study was one o Idaho’s largest—about1000 animals.The antelope traverse ederal, state, and private land andrun into mountains, highways, ences, and lava ields on theirjourney. Increasingly, their path is threatened by developmentand habitat ragmentation. Along with mapping seasonal habi-tat—such as awning areas—migration routes, and connectivity,the ongoing study will identiy, among other issues, impediments
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to pronghorn movement and potential changes needed inmanagement programs. Tess O’Sullivan, Program Directoror the Lava Lake Institute, reports, “A signiicant amounto habitat, particularly the summer range, occurs on privateland which highlights the importance o maintaining theexisting arms and ranches ree rom development and/orsubdivision.”As a sponsor, Wood River Land Trust is proud to be parto this important ongoing research. Key partners in the proj-ect include Lava Lake Institute, WCS, IDFG, the NationalPark Service, Kim Murray, and the Pioneers Alliance.For more inormation and a ull list o sponsors, go to
www.lavalakeinstitute.org.
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ing management, and Carey and BlaineCounty planning issues. The next pub-lic meeting will be December 8 at theCity Hall in Carey rom 7 to 9 p.m.Anyone interested in helping develop avision or the Pioneers region is invitedto attend.Support or this work has been pro-vided by non-proit organizations, pub-lic agencies, and the William and FloraHewlett Foundation.For more inormation about PioneersAlliance, contact Scott Boettger,sboettger@woodriverlandtrust.org orMike Stevens at Lava Lake Institute orScience and Conservation 788-1710,
www.lavalakeinstitute.org,
click onPioneers Alliance.
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Hailey ArcoCraters of theMoon NationalMonumentCareyMudLakeMackayKetchum
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The Pioneers AlliancePronghorn Migration Study
GPS LocationsOct 2008Nov 2008Dec 2008 Jan 2009Feb 2009Mar 2009 Apr 2009May 2009 Jun 2009 Jul 2009 Aug 2009Sep 2009
GPS Locations for Pronghorn Between Oct 2008 - Sep 2009
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online!
The Pioneers AllianceParticipants:
City o Carey residentsLocal ranchers and landownersBeartooth Capital PartnersBlaine County Boardo CommissionersBureau o Land ManagementCity o CareyHall & HallIdaho Conservation LeagueIdaho Department o Fishand GameIdaho Department o LandsLava Lake Institute or Scienceand ConservationNational Park ServiceSawtooth National ForestThe Conservation FundThe Nature Conservancy Wildlie Conservation Society Wood River Land Trust
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