ACTION ALERT: Conservation Tax Incentives
In 2006, Congress passed enhanced tax incentives for voluntary conservation easements with private landowners.  These tax incentives increased the pace of conservation easement donations in the U.S. by one third, to over a million acres a year.  At GVLT, we saw a significant increase in conservation projects with working farmers and ranchers in the Gallatin Valley.  Unfortunately, this law expired at the end of 2009, leaving many landowners with no choice but to wait and see whether the tax incentives would be extended.  President Obama and Congressional leaders from both parties have agreed to make tax legislation a top priority in the final weeks of this Congress. 

GVLT has many conservation projects lined up and ready to proceed but only IF the tax incentives are extended.

We need your help to make these tax incentives permanent!  Please call your Senators today at 202-224-3121 and urge them to make a permanent easement incentive a priority in the lame duck session.

Read more about this critical legislation here.  

New Nordic Ski Trails
Bozeman's Nordic skiing community has many kilometers of beautiful new trails to enjoy this winter thanks to a partnership between Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF), GVLT and Bozeman Deaconess Health Services. Hospital officials gave BSF & GVLT permission to mow and clear old fencing this fall on many acres of their land on the east side of Highland Boulevard. Now a new network of groomed trails stretches from Ellis Street to Kagy. To access these trails, use the softball fields parking lot with the recycling bins at the northeast corner of the Highland/Ellis intersection, then cross Ellis and start skiing at the southeast corner of the Highland/Ellis intersection. Please use extreme caution if you cross Highland on foot, especially with children. Please do not park at the hospital or the surgery center.

A map of these trails can be viewed and downloaded from the BSF website: www.bridgerskifoundation.org/trails-maps/ . This map will also be posted on the GVLT website as soon as our new website is launched.

New Gardner Park Parking Lot
GVLT completed this year's fourth trailhead parking lot project in November with construction of a new four-car parking lot on Gardner Park Drive. The new parking lot will improve access to a popular section of the Sourdough Trail, and with just 370 feet of flat trail to a picnic table and steel bridge over Bozeman Creek it and will provide one of the best disabled access points on the entire trail system. This project was made possible thanks to a City of Bozeman Parkland Improvement Grant and a generous donation from Bozeman Noon Rotary.

Northeast Neighborhood Trails
GVLT is working with the Northeast Urban Renewal Board (NURB) on a plan to create new trails and sidewalks to connect missing links in the heart of the neighborhood.  Most of these new pedestrian connections will link to the new Depot Park and climbing boulder at the junction of Front, Ida, Aspen and Plum streets. The new park and climbing boulder were created with Urban Renewal District tax increment funding (TIF), a City of Bozeman Parkland Improvement Grant and federal stimulus funds. TIF dollars will be the primary funding source for the new trails and sidewalks. Click here to learn more about NURB