Announcement from NFPA President Debo Powers:

Headwaters Montana has been a sister organization to NFPA for decades and Dave Hadden has been one of the most effective conservation advocates of all time in both local and transboundary issues.  We are sorry to see Headwaters Montana close, but we are excited about continuing the Jack Potter Glacier National Park Stewardship Award and the Loren Kreck-Edwin Fields Wilderness Scholarship Fund. (See details below.)

Here’s the full text of the announcement from Headwaters Montana . . .

Headwaters Montana announces with mixed emotion our board of director’s decision to close our conservation organization by the end of 2020. We want to extend our profound gratitude to all of you who have supported and followed our work. Our successes year after year would have been impossible without your moral and financial support. So, Thank You! We are grateful!

Briefly, we decided to close for several concurrent reasons. First, as executive director I am retiring at the end of the year. Second, our long-tern “President for Life” Edwin Fields passed away in February and the board thinks this event in combination with my retirement is a signal to bring things to a close. And lastly, Headwaters does not have the financial capacity to bring in my replacement; we simply can’t afford to continue

Founded in 2007, Headwaters has filled an important niche in the northwest Montana conservation landscape. We have specialized in working on issues not covered by other local groups. Trout groups, wildlife groups, bird groups, open land groups, smart growth groups, lake groups, and other groups all exist in the Flathead and Kootenai regions. Headwaters has functioned as the only local grassroots groups that works on long-term conservation goals of protecting water and wildlife across the transboundary frontier with British Columbia, a critical conservation corridor.

Our particular focus on transboundary issues with British Columbia included protecting the North Fork of the Flathead River Valley from coal mining in the BC headwaters that culminated in the North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2014.

More recently, we have focused on protecting water and fish in the Kootenai River system from the degradation due to mountaintop removal coal mining in BC’s Elk River Valley. We worked to protect the threatened terrestrial wildlife habitat across this transboundary landscape, including the wild core of the Whitefish Range in the Flathead National Forest, the remaining roadless lands in the Canadian Flathead and the Kootenay. (In the U.S. we spell “Kootenai” and in Canada they spell “Kootenay”.) Our work with partners has resulted in millions of dollars for transboundary water quality studies that will lay the groundwork for holding BC accountable for its pollution.

One of the keys to our success has been our willingness to work with almost any stakeholder interested in finding solutions to big problems in open and transparent fashion. The Whitefish Range Partnership exemplified this approach, which we conceived and helped lead over 2012-13. This group of about 30 local citizens and stakeholders met for a year to hammer out a community consensus agreement on a suite of management recommendations for the Whitefish Range as part of the Flathead National Forest management plan revision affecting over 400,000 acres and including an 80,000-acre recommended wilderness.

Similarly, over 2017-19 we pulled together 13 statewide and national groups to form the Montana Wildlife Futures Group that significantly advanced the efforts to find permanent additional funding for non-game wildlife in Montana. We led the Oil Safe Flathead effort to draw attention to the risks and need for action regarding the shipment of Bakken crude oil and other hazardous material along the BNSF rail line running along the Middle Fork Flathead and through West Glacier, Columbia Falls, and Whitefish. We helped the North Fork Trail Association get started as part of citizen effort to help maintain national forest trails.

Around the edges Headwaters Montana accomplished other goals. We are happy to report that the Jack Potter Glacier National Park Stewardship Award, which we created in 2012, will be passed to the North Fork Preservation Association (NFPA). Headwaters will endow this award so that citizens, public employees and non-profit groups will continue to be recognized and rewarded for their effort to protect Glacier Park.

Lastly, when a non-profit closes, it is required by IRS rules to disperse remaining assets to other 501-c-3 non-profits. In 2010, our dear friend and benefactor, Dr. Loren Kreck, bequeathed a substation gift to Headwaters. In addition, the family of Edwin Fields, our recently deceased “President for Life,” will make a gift to Headwaters. We are pleased to announce that the Headwaters board has established the Loren Kreck – Edwin Fields Wilderness Scholarship Fund. This fund will provide educational assistance grants to graduate students with a focus on wilderness advocacy. Once again, the NFPA board has agreed to adopt and manage this scholarship as Headwaters closes its doors.

In closing, we would like to again say, “Thank You!” for your years of support. Our successes are indeed your successes.