Bitter Root Land Trust (BRLT) Executive Director, Gavin Ricklefs, announced that he will be transitioning from his seventeen-year leadership role with BRLT to become Managing Director for the Heart of the Rockies Initiative. The Bitter Root Land Trust Board of Directors has named current BRLT Development Director, Lauren Rennaker, as the new Executive Director.
The Heart of the Rockies Initiative is a regional partnership of 29 land trust members, including BRLT. Heart of the Rockies supports land trusts across the Rocky Mountain West in keeping working family farms, ranches, and timberlands in family hands through capacity assistance, collaborative fundraising, data sharing, and networking.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Lauren, the BRLT team, and the entire community to ensure BRLT remains true to its roots as a community-supported, local partner,” says Ricklefs. “Lauren has been a leader in conservation here in the Bitterroot for 17 years, as BRLT’s Development Director for the last seven, and I am so excited to welcome her to this new leadership role. I look forward to supporting the BRLT staff and board of directors as they continue to build on a 27-year tradition of excellence in landowner-driven, locally led, private land conservation in our community.”
When Ricklefs joined BRLT as Director in 2008, the organization had a total of 1.5 staff. Since then, BRLT has grown to a team of 10 full-time staff and a volunteer board of directors of 13.
BRLT has worked with 60 families to conserve over 13,141 acres of Bitterroot Valley family farms and ranches, wildlife habitat, Bitterroot River and stream frontage, and community parks – including Skalkaho Bend and Steve Powell Parks in Hamilton, and the C. Ben White Memorial Fishing Access Site and Trail in Conner.
Ravalli County Commissioner Dan Huls says of the transition, “Gavin Ricklefs’ leadership of the Bitter Root Land Trust has been terrific. He has led the organization to a status that has been recognized throughout Montana and also at the national level. His knowledge, enthusiasm and integrity has been an inspiration not only to BRLT staff but our community as well. Gavin’s work with the Ravalli County Open Lands Program has been critical to the program’s success and I am confident that Lauren Rennaker will continue that good work. I want to congratulate both Gavin and Lauren in their step forward in the important work that land trusts will do in the future.”
“At its core, BRLT’s work is about creating the space for our community to come together around shared values, specifically our shared love of and reverence for the Bitterroot Valley,” says Ricklefs. “Fifty years from now, our community’s collective commitment to leaving a legacy of working lands, wildlife, clean water, unprecedented beauty, and world-class recreational opportunities will be appreciated and respected by future generations of Bitterroot residents and visitors.”
Rennaker brings to her new director role a wealth of knowledge and experience working for conservation nonprofits in the Bitterroot Valley. She has served as the BRLT Development Director since 2017 and, prior to that, was the Development Manager for Teller Wildlife Refuge in Corvallis.
“I am excited and humbled to have been selected as Gavin’s successor,” says Rennaker. “Gavin is not only a conservation leader in our community, but across the state and country. He leaves a strong, healthy organization who is committed to working every day to conserve what we all collectively cherish about our valley. I am incredibly honored to continue his conservation legacy by working hand-in-hand with our stellar BRLT board of directors and staff. I am continually inspired by our community’s deep passion for protecting our way of life and this exceptional place we call home.”
With a personal passion for the Bitterroot Valley’s agricultural heritage and rural way of life, Rennaker lives in Darby on a cattle ranch managed by her husband. They have fifth-generation, eight-year-old twins.
“During this transition, the BRLT team continues to be laser focused on partnering with our community to protect what we all love most about this valley,” says Rennaker. “We are currently working with nearly two dozen local families to conserve working lands, wildlife habitat, community access to recreation, and river and stream frontage to be protected in perpetuity over the next several years.”
Community members are invited to a celebration to welcome Rennaker as the new Executive Director and thank Ricklefs for his service and dedication at an open house on Sunday, September 22 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Skalkaho Bend Park in Hamilton, located at 500 Bailey Avenue. More details can be found on BRLT’s website, bitterrootlandtrust.org.