The Seeley, Swan and Blackfoot valleys of Montana are each practicing strategies related to collaborative place-based land management—striving to meet the “triple bottom line” of stewardship of our natural resources, strong economies and healthy rural communities.  Recently, much as a result of these grassroots efforts, all three valleys are experiencing significant changes in land ownership patterns.  At the same time, the economy of the region is also facing major transitions.  The purpose of the Summit is to launch an annual event that brings the three watershed efforts together to leverage more success on our shared landscape.  Meeting objectives include:

• To host a forum for key community, public agency, non-profit conservation, business and academic leaders to share resources, learn from one another and collaborate on long-term stewardship and restoration of public and private lands across the Seeley, Swan and Blackfoot valleys.
• To discuss both new and existing opportunities and tools to promote healthy economies and jobs related to stewardship and restoration.
• To identify priority resource issues for collaboration across the three watersheds and targeted action items for 2009-10 to share with our communities.