Looking Back: GVLT’s First Conservation Easement

GVLT Founder Chris Boyd and Gertrude Baker

We love to share stories of visionary families who choose to conserve their land, whether they are seeking to protect working farms and ranches, critical wildlife habitat, or scenic viewsheds. For the past 35 years, we’ve been honored to partner with landowners to establish 133 conservation easements, protecting more than 72,000 acres in southwest Montana for generations to come. Do you ever wonder how it all began? What was GVLT’s first conservation easement?

Our land conservation work began shortly after our founding in 1990 when 86-year-old Gertrude Baker came to GVLT for help. She was concerned about what would happen to her 181-acre property on Bozeman Pass and the wildlife depending on it after she died. Gertrude, a clinical psychologist who continued to teach at Montana State University after her retirement, purchased the property in 1958 and moved there in 1972.

Gertrude’s love for wildlife shone through in both her words and actions. She diligently cooked a mixture of suet and grains on her wood stove to feed the hundreds of birds that flocked to her feeder in the winter. She also steamed peanuts until they were soft and then sliced them for the squirrels.

Gertrude referred to part of her property as the “nursery,” explaining, “There’s a mule deer doe who has twins every year and a whitetail doe who has twins every year.”

She also shared a story of a moose who was so comfortable around the homestead that it napped leaning up against her cabin walls—all so it could have a better listen to the country and western music playing on her radio.

“How could I ever face my resident moose when I depart this world if I hadn’t done everything I could to safeguard my land for the wildlife?” she asked.

So, Gertrude came to GVLT, understanding a conservation easement would ensure the land would never be fragmented or developed, protecting the habitat of her beloved wildlife.

Today, more than three decades later, Bozeman Pass remains one of GVLT’s strategic conservation focus areas. This ecologically diverse area serves as a key linkage for wildlife to move safely between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. New conservation projects in this area continue to build on 35 years of success and keep the landscape open for our region’s most iconic and threatened wildlife.

We are grateful for Gertrude’s vision and that of other families who choose to conserve open lands throughout our service area in Gallatin, Park, and Madison counties, knowing our entire region benefits from productive agricultural land, clean water, wildlife habitat, and wide open views—the very things that make Montana so special.

Learn more about GVLT’s other conservation focus areas and see our online conserved lands map.