Many Thanks to MacKenzie River Pizza

Travelers for Open Land offers high praise for MacKenzie River's High Plains Pizza promotion, which resulted in a $2,000 contribution from MacKenzie River Pizza Company to the Travelers for Open Land program. The MacKenzie River contribution is the single largest donation to the Travelers program to date.

During summer 2009 MacKenzie River Pizza created a special product offering named the High Plains Pizza, made with special ingredients including pheasant sausage, as a way to highlight eastern Montana tourism opportunities and the value of open lands. One dollar from the sale of each High Plains Pizza was earmarked as a contribution to Travelers for Open Land, a program which protects Montana's open lands and scenic landscapes.

Thanks in part to the MacKenzie River Pizza Company contribution, Travelers for Open Land will be able to offer two $5,000 grants to Montana land trusts in January 2010. The grant funds will assist in the creation of conservation easements to protect open lands. One of the grants will fund a conservation project in western Montana, and one will fund a project in central/eastern Montana, and MacKenzie River's donation helped make these grants possible.

Alta Ranch Featured in National Magazine

A big congratulations to the Alta Ranch in the Bitterroot Valley for being named "Hotel of the Week" in the Nov. 13, 2009 edition of The Week Magazine (page 40). The Alta Ranch participates in Travelers for Open Land. The Week called the Alta Ranch "a flyfisherman's dream" and ended the short article with, "Moose, elk ...and deer graze in the meadow beyond the river, and ospreys, hawks, and herons soar above in the wide-open mountain skies." Very cool.

Good News on Land and Water Conservation Fund

A bill introduced by Montana Senator Max Baucus would add funding to the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. If passed, this would mean enhanced funding for outdoor recreation and open lands. There's a good article about the bill in the Bozeman Chronicle at http://bozemandailychronicle.com/news/