WIN is pleased to support theFlathead Land Trustin its effort to preserve 400 acres of prime agricultural land encompassing a 45-acre wetlands in the West Flathead Valley. Each fall, after crops have been harvested, hundreds of southbound migrating Sandhill Cranes use this land as a vital staging area to fuel up before continuing on to their wintering grounds from Texas and Oklahoma through the south west to California and parts of Mexico.
Flathead Land Trust is collaborating with the landowners to secure a $1.4 million easement that will ensure this land will not become a housing development, but rather be perpetually accessible as a crucial habitat for the Sandhill Cranes, as well as dozens of additional bird species.
Along with other conservation-minded entities in the Flathead, WIN supported FLT by providing photographs taken by Dick Walker and video clips recorded by BJ Worth of Sandhill Cranes that were used by FLT to raise awareness about this vitally important project.
Flathead Beacon article, Nov. 2016 – Working to Conserve the West Valley Wetlands