Bridgerland Audubon Society, working with The Nature Conservancy and PacifiCorp negotiated a conservation easement for 500 acres of property near Morton/Trenton. The effort was lead by Bryan Dixon. At our annual banquet, April 22, 2009, the Bear River Bottoms Conservation Easement was signed between PacifiCorp Energy and Bridgerland Audubon Society. See Press Release.
Initial funding to support the management of the property came from Bridgerland Audubon. NRCS and IJIV grants supported volunteer and conservation corps projects on the property to plant narrow-leafed Poplar cuttings and remove invasive Russian Olives.
- Fence construction Labor day weekend and 2 Oct 2009
- Youth Conservation Corps combats non-native plants and trees
- Fencing and cleanup on the north end of the property
- Grazing Leases signed for Bear River Bottoms Preserve, May 2010
- Bridgerland Audubon awarded IWJV grant, May 2010
- Bridgerland Audubon receives NRCS grant, April 2010
- Bridgerland Audubon removes debris and protects landowners adjacent to Bear River Bottoms Preserve, Oct 2009
- Survey completed on Bear River Bottoms Easement Summer, 2009
“After six years of effort, last April BAS secured a conservation easement (CE) on the first 500 acres of the Bear River Bottoms north of Trenton. That seems like a lot of land, but it’s really just the beginning. As part of the preparations for the CE, volunteers and professional consultants completed surveys of wetlands, plant communities, weeds, potential hazardous sites, fence lines, debris piles, etc. Those surveys were woven into a site management plan that laid out plans for the future.” More from the January 2010 Stilt
June 24, 2011 Bear River Bottoms dedicated and Bear River Land Conservancy introduced.
Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) Capacity Grant 6-month Progress Report
https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/brb/UT_BridgerlandAudubonSociety_BearRiverLandConservancy_6MonthProgressReport.pdf
Opsahl, Kevin, New conservation easement in Bear River Bottoms dedicated to ‘children’s children’s children’, The Herald Journal, Jun 25, 2011, https://www.hjnews.com/news/new-conservation-easement-in-bear-river-bottoms-dedicated-to-childrens-childrens-children/article_71ef8a1e-9ec5-11e0-95ee-001cc4c002e0.html