The Blackfoot Challenge, formed in 1993, is a landowner-based group that coordinates management of the Blackfoot River, its tributaries, and adjacent lands. Its mission is to coordinate efforts to conserve and enhance the natural resources and rural way of life in the Blackfoot Watershed.
Blackfoot Challenge has been a Brainerd Foundation grantee since 2009.
The Blackfoot Challenge coordinates efforts that conserve and enhance the natural resources and rural way of life throughout the Blackfoot watershed. Photo courtesy of the Blackfoot Challenge.
The Blackfoot Challenge helps to coordinate partnerships and resources that benefit the Blackfoot Watershed. Photo courtesy of the Blackfoot Challenge.
$30,000 - To strengthen community-based conservation capacity and share community-driven conservation lessons in the southern Crown and High Divide. Place-based conservation
$40,000 - To strengthen community-based conservation capacity and transfer the lessons learned for community-driven conservation in the southern Crown and High Divide. Place-based conservation
$88,000 - A two-year grant to strengthen community-based conservation capacity and transfer the lessons learned for community-driven conservation in the southern Crown and High Divide. Place-based conservation
$40,000 - To strengthen community-based conservation capacity in the southern Crown and High Divide. Place-based conservation
$80,000 - To develop an effective and sustainable educational and training opportunity for community and partner leaders to transfer the lessons learned for land-based, community-driven conservation in the Crown of the Continent and the High Divide. Place-based conservation
$6,000 - To transfer the lessons learned about delivering conservation outcomes in local, regional, and national priority landscapes through community-based processes. Grassroots fund
$3,000 - To establish a network of practitioners from the collaborative conservation groups working in the Northern Rockies and the High Divide regions. Opportunity fund
$80,000 - To transfer the lessons learned about delivering conservation outcomes in local, regional, and national priority landscapes through community-based processes. Place-based conservation
$2,500 - To conduct a Private Lands Day/Partners for Conservation meeting. Opportunity fund
A recent article in Western Confluence magazine shines the spotlight on several Brainerd grantees, including the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Ruby Valley Conservation District, Headwaters Economics, the Blackfoot Challenge, and People and Carnivores. The author offers an excellent analysis of the absolute necessity of factoring in working lands in wildlife conservation and demonstrates the solutions-based work of ranchers in the High Divide, one of the Brainerd Foundation's place-based focus areas.