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Montana at a Conservation Crossroad
In February 2008, Kat Imhoff became the state director of The Nature Conservancy in Montana. She oversees a 34-person staff, a membership of around 6,500 and a program that has worked with landowners and communities to conserve more than 550,000 acres in Montana. Born in Utah, Kat has lived extensively in the West. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Urban and Environmental Planning from the School of Architecture, University of Virginia.
Kat came to Montana from Virginia where she served as the vice-president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc. She previously served as the executive director for the Preservation Alliance of Virginia, and vice president for conservation and development for the Piedmont Environmental Council. Kat is serving as treasurer for the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. She has received numerous awards recognizing her leadership in growth management issues.
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By Kat Imhoff
Flying west across Montana from Virginia on a clear day provides an extraordinary visual treat.
Flying west across Montana from Virginia on a clear day provides an extraordinary visual treat. Grasslands seem to roll away to the ends of the earth. Outliers of the Rockies, the Bear Paws and the Big Snowy mountains announce the coming of the Rocky Mountain Front. Then, a wall of white-topped ranges fills the eye with a trellised pattern of valleys at the forefront and vast forests beyond. From 35,000 feet, the overall images are of natural harmony interrupted little by humankind.
Yet, coming down to Earth we know one million people call Montana home, and ten million visitors join us each year, bringing pressures on this abundance that aren’t eminantly clear from the sky. To the north, coal development threatens the survival of wide-ranging animals for whom borders mean little. In our highest mountain lakes, including those in Glacier National Park, we’ve recently learned that fish are so contaminated by global pollution they are no longer safe for human consumption.
Both the aerial and earthly perspectives are edifying: Montana can make a tremendous contribution toward the organization’s global conservation goals, particularly in the areas of temperate grasslands, fresh water, and forestry goals. We harbor an increasingly rare global commodity: vast untrammeled landscapes. By the same token, our scientists tell us that the effects of climate change, of worldwide industry, and increasing population mandate conservation beyond our borders. Mercury from China’s growing industrial output compromises lakes in Montana. Sodbusting in the Great Plains jeopardizes migratory birds as far south as Patagonia.
Yet the Conservancy and local partners can claim recent victories capable of helping sustain this global conservation village. We helped set up the first national park in China and along with the Chinese government helped redesign several proposed dams on major rivers to lessen wildlife impacts and increase energy efficiency while reducing the size of the dams. Our recently launched North American Grassland Initiative will prevent carbon release into the atmosphere as well as provide a protected flightpath for North America’s most imperiled grassland birds
We find ourselves at a crossroads for conservation, one where we can no longer ignore that our air quality, our climate, and the purity of our waters are linked with neighboring nations, and they with ours. By scientific measure and knowledgeable assessment, Montana holds perhaps the greatest store of ecologic riches of any of the lower 48 States. By virtue of this fact, we also have the potential to contribute disproportionately to the good of global conservation. In the coming months and years, we will be asking you to expand your vision of conservation – both within Montana and beyond, so that we are best sustaining the natural assets within this global village.
Thank you for your support of conservation – in Montana and the world.
