Partner Organizations
As a non-profit organization, Wood River Land Trust knows the value of cultivating successful partnerships with other organizations and stakeholders at all levels and across many focus areas. We partner with public agencies, other non-profit organizations, grant-funding organizations, volunteer groups, private citizens and members of the community, and many others who share our vision of protecting and restoring our landscapes and environment.
Formed in 2010, the Idaho Coalition of Land Trusts (ICOLT) is a group of approximately 19 non-profit, land trust organizations and two local and state government-sponsored programs. These entities work on private land conservation and voluntary conservation agreements throughout the state of Idaho. ICOLT also coordinates members to achieve legislative, administrative, communications and policy goals.
Wood River Land Trust is an active member of ICOLT, working with our partner organizations on regional conservation efforts and ideas, and helping to support the broader goal of land conservation across the State of Idaho and the country.
The Pioneers Alliance is a cooperative effort by ranchers, local residents, conservationists, and public land managers to conserve and enhance the natural and cultural values of the Pioneer Mountains and Craters of the Moon landscape of south-central Idaho. The size and unspoiled nature of the Pioneers-Craters represents one of the great legacies that has been passed to us by previous generations, and is one of the gifts we can pass on to the next. This sense of legacy motivates and inspires the Pioneers Alliance to work at a large scale, one that matches the landscape itself. At the heart of the work is conserving working lands and wild lands of the region.
Many of the values cherished most about the region–working ranches, abundant migratory wildlife, backcountry hunting and recreation, spectacular vistas–require a large unspoiled landscape. The vision is of a unified approach–supported by private ranchers, federal and state officials, residents and conservationists–to managing the 2.6 million acre Pioneers-Craters landscape that will safeguard these values for the long term.
​
The Pioneers Alliance has worked on several fronts. First, local landowners, conservationists, Blaine County and federal agencies have worked to secure funding for the purchase of conservation easements on private ranchlands in the foothills portion of the landscape. Second, the group has worked with state and federal agencies throughout the region to influence land use decisions that impact the condition and character of the landscape. Recent examples include the Bureau of Land Management’s Craters of the Moon Resource Management Plan Amendment.
Heart of the Rockies serves as the collaborative backbone for 27 independent land trusts working in five states and two provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Washington. Private land conservation is crucial for maintaining open space important for agricultural production, wildlife habitat, and water availability. Land trusts know how to do this work, but need capital to scale up solutions to meet current challenges. Through collaboration, Heart of the Rockies helps increase the pace of private land conservation.
The goal of the Wood River Water Collaborative is to create a long-term, practical water management framework providing new tools to help balance the consumptive needs of upstream and downstream users in order to provide water for people, crops and fish both now and in the future. The mission of the Wood River Collaborative is to preserve core community values which include:
-
Safe, clean, drinking water to meet the needs of the watershed.
-
Sustainable water use for farming and ranching.
-
Healthy riparian habitat for fish and wildlife that rely on the Big Wood River, Little Wood River, Silver Creek and their tributaries
THE WOOD RIVER LAND TRUST IS PROUD TO WORK WITH GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, MUNICIPALITIES, & OTHER NON-PROFITS T0 ENSURE THE PRESERVATION OF CRITICAL LANDS
-
Stennet Public Access: This acre on the Big Lost River near Mackay, Idaho known as Stennet Public Access, was given to the Wood River Land Trust which, in 2002, conveyed the parcel to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, subject to the condition that the Fish and Game guarantees recreational and fishing access to the river from the parcel.
-
Bluff Parcel: The Wood River Land Trust acquired 3 acres in the Elkhorn area, known as the Bluff Parcel. The parcel was transferred to the Sun Valley Elkhorn Association, and with the Association's support, the parcel has been zoned Open Space by the City of Sun Valley.
-
Timbered Dome: 1,609 acres located in Butte County, Idaho known as the Timbered Dome property were sold to a private citizen which under his ownership was approved for a Grasslands Reserve Program permanent easement in 2011.
-
Square Lake: 320 acres located in Blaine County, Idaho known as the Square Lake property had been previously purchased by the Wood River Land Trust. It was sold to a private individual who transferred it to the Bureau of Land Management.
-
Sheep Bridge Canyon: 360 acres located in Blaine County, Idaho known as the Sheep Bridge Canyon property had been previously purchased by the Wood River Land Trust. It was sold to a private individual who transferred it to the Bureau of Land Management.
-
Lincoln County Property: In 2018, 9 acres of land owned by the Wood River Land Trust were transferred to Lincoln County with the restriction that the property be maintained only as a park open the the public for recreational and educational purposes.