by Gael Bissell

The Spring Match Challenge was hugely successful! First, our members donated another $13,656 during the Challenge Match (on top of the $23,686 donated prior). Because of the value of Owen Sowerwine to the Flathead Valley and the outpouring of community support, Flathead Audubon received a generous and unexpected $50,000 Community Grant from the Whitefish Community Foundation!  As the Challenge Match news spread quickly throughout the Valley, hundreds of individuals donated gifts to the Flathead Land Trust (FLT) and Flathead Lakers as well.  We held about a dozen public tours both on foot and by kayak to Owen Sowerwine in May and July. These were fully attended and greatly appreciated! Our goal was to raise $100,000 from the community and by July 31, we raised $103,401! 

In addition, we drew the attention of many local organizations who also donated to the project during the Challenge Match campaign via Flathead Land Trust, including Trout Unlimited, Flathead Wildlife Inc., Cinnabar Foundation, Montana Trout, and the Whitefish Community Foundation for a total of $21,000. Flathead Lakers have also collected significant donations. 

Even with $635,000 in large foundation and government grants awarded to the FLT, we still have a funding shortfall. As previously mentioned in our earlier Fly-Bys, the July updated appraisal and other costs left us with about a $200,000 funding gap. The good news is that needed grants and donations exceeded our expectations and are still coming in! And the FLT successfully raised another $40,000 for Owen Sowerwine during the Great Fish Community Challenge. We now need only about $125,000 to complete the project.

To plug the final gap, FLT recently submitted a request for $125,000 from the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT of Conservation Program. This incredible Spirit of Conservation initiative focuses on projects that will help restore our 3 billion birds that have been lost over the last 50 years! A perfect grant opportunity. If successful, we will have all of the estimated $1,055,000 that FLT needs to complete the project! We will hear from ConocoPhillips in November. 

Thank you to all of you who have volunteered, donated, spread the word, wrote letters of support, and otherwise helped Flathead Audubon, FLT, and Flathead Lakers achieve so much in this last year. DNRC is going through the final review processes for the proposed conservation easement. The State Land Board approval is tentatively scheduled in December. Stay tuned!