Sourdough Canyon Trailhead

Bozeman 10-21-2011

After nearly four years of planning and hard work, GVLT completed a series of vital improvements at one of Bozeman’s most popular trailheads and at one of the anchors to our Main Street to the Mountains trail system: Sourdough Canyon. With the help of dozens of partners, GVLT improved the public safety, enhanced recreational enjoyment, and improved habitat at this important trailhead. Improvements included the installation of a permanent vault toilet, doubling the available parking, installing a turn-around for emergency and larger vehicles, straightening the access road, and restoring sections of Sourdough Creek.

Since the property was donated to the Gallatin Valley Land Trust by Michael Delaney and Ileana Indreland in 2007, GVLT worked with a diverse group of stakeholders and partners to design these improvements. As one of regions most heavily used year-round trailheads, just minutes from downtown Bozeman, and a critical source of Bozeman’s drinking water, these improvements benefit not just recreationists, but also help the ecology of the Bozeman watershed.

This project was funded by generous contributions from the Gallatin Resource Advisory Committee, Montana Import Group, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, National Forest Foundation, Patagonia, REI, and dozens of individuals. The work was completed in partnership with Gallatin County, the City of Bozeman, the Gallatin National Forest, and several private landowners. R.S. Construction & Excavation, Kingfisher Consulting, and C&H Engineering helped implement the improvements on the ground.

Partnership with Bozeman Boulders Initiative

Bozeman 10-08-2011

GVLT was actively involved in the creation of the first climbing boulder on Bozeman’s Main Street to the Mountains trail system, constructed in Langohr Park in 2005. In 2008, the all-volunteer Bozeman Boulders Initiative formed with the goal of building five climbing boulders in parks throughout the community linked by the Main Street to the Mountains trail system.

Designed for kids and adults, beginners and experts alike, the Bozeman Boulder Initiative fulfilled its goal in October of 2011 with the installation of the fifth and sixth climbing boulders. The Boulders are located at Langohr Park, Bozeman Pond next to the Gallatin Valley Mall, Depot Park in the northeast Bozeman, East Gallatin Recreation Area near the beach, and two boulders at the Gallatin County Regional Park near the Dinosaur Playground. (Coming soon: a map of all six boulders!)

Partners and funders included the City of Bozeman Parks Division, Gallatin County, Northern Lights Trading Company, REI, and Stronghold Fabrication.

Please click here to go to the Bozeman Boulder Initiative’s blog.

East Gallatin Recreation Area

Bozeman 09-30-2011

North of Bozeman, the East Gallatin Recreation Area offers miles of trail loops through beautiful riparian forest adjacent to the East Gallatin River. However, severe flooding in recent years threatened sections of this popular trail system. In 2010 and 2011, Gallatin Valley Land Trust successfully rerouted sections of the trail and rebuilt them to be more sustainable in the long-term. Support for this project came from many partners and donors, including the City of Bozeman Parks Division, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Recreational Trails Program, and Sanderson Stewart engineers.

Langohr Park Natural Playground

Bozeman 06-04-2011

In June of 2011 GVLT was honored to help complete Bozeman’s first Natural Playground. This new feature provides kids with fantastic opportunities for imaginative play along the Main Street to the Mountains trail system. The playground was designed and installed by Greenspace Landscaping and is located across Mathew Bird Creek from the climbing boulder at Langohr Park and features natural boulders, a concrete tunnel, and native vegetation. The natural playground is the newest feature at Langohr Park, which also offers a pollinator garden, community gardens, swing set, and picnic area. Please click here to view a map of Langohr Park.

Chestnut Mountain

Bozeman 09-01-2010

Over the span of ten years GVLT, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), Gallatin National Forest, Gallatin County, Montana Outdoor Science School (MOSS), Southwest Montana Climbers Coalition (SMCC) worked together to create over 5.6 miles of new trails and at the same time conserve a critically important link in the Bozeman Pass wildlife corridor. The entire project was made possible by the Schmidt family, who worked with GVLT, TPL and Gallatin National Forest to conserve 2,055 acres of their land straddling I-90. A conservation easement permanently protects 1,240 acres of the Schmidt property north of I-90, and another 815 acres are now public land. The new public land includes the popular climbing area north of I-90, and 640 acres south of I-90 over which most of the new trails were constructed. This new trail also crosses private property protected by GVLT’s first conservation easement, donated in 1991.

Funding for this project came from Gallatin County Open Space Bonds and the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Gallatin National Forest designed and funded the new Chestnut Mountain Trail and partnered with SMCC to build the Frog Rock spur trail.

Chestnut Mountain Map (PDF 634 KB)

Drinking Horse Mountain

Bozeman 04-01-2009

Located on the south side of Bridger Canyon Drive across from the “M” trailhead, the Drinking Horse Mountain Trail offers great views and great variety, climbing from aspens and cottonwoods along Bridger Creek, through evergreen forest, rocky outcrops and wildflower-decorated hillsides—all in a 2.4-mile round trip from the trailhead. GVLT manages and maintains the trail in partnership with US Fish & Wildlife Service and Gallatin National Forest.

The Drinking Horse Mountain Trail is the product of eight years of planning, permitting, fundraising and construction—from 2001, when GVLT helped arrange the White family’s donation of their 40-acre Drinking Horse Mountain property to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, to the Spring 2009 completion of the Kevin Mundy Memorial Bridge across Bridger Creek. GVLT coordinated the project in partnership with the USFWS Fish Technology Center, Gallatin National Forest, Montana Outdoor Science School and Friends of the Fish Technology Center. Funded through many generous cash and in-kind donations, the trail and bridge together totaled over $220,000.

Drinking Horse Mountain Map (PDF 520 KB)

Snowfill Recreation Area

Bozeman 09-09-2008

In September 2008, after two years and an investment of over $100,000, GVLT and the Bozeman Parks Division opened a new 37-acre dogs-off-leash recreation area on McIlhattan Road. Named “Snowfill” for its location north of the city landfill and the great wintertime Nordic skiing and sledding it offers, the site includes the 1.25-mile Hedvig Flowers Memorial Trail, rolling fields and spectacular views of the Bridgers. The project was made possible by many generous donors, local businesses and over 100 volunteers who helped on National Trails Day in 2007 and 2008. The City Commission approved creation of this new recreation area in 2006. The concept was originally proposed in a Recreation and Parks Advisory Board committee report on strategies for better managing dogs and meeting the needs of dog-owners.

Snowfill Recreation Area Map (PDF 532 KB)

Regional Park Bridge

Bozeman 09-20-2008

The centerpiece of the 1.2-miles of trail in northwest Bozeman’s Regional Park is a unique new bridge installed between the park’s two lakes in late September, 2008. Incorporating a sheltered center section with benches, the 32-foot long steel span was locally designed and built by Intrinsik Architecture and Archweld Design & Fabrication. GVLT secured funding for this $65,000 project from a Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks Recreational Trails Program grant, the Kendeda Fund, Friends of Regional Parks and substantial in-kind donations by Intrinsik Architecture, Bridger Engineers and other local businesses.

Protecting the Summit of Burke Park

Bozeman 08-1-2008

Appraised at $780,000, two privately-owned acres at the high point of Burke Park could have been developed into three home sites. Instead, thanks to the generosity of the Burke family, GVLT donors, many years of work by GVLT and timely action by the City Commission and City Staff, it will remain a beautiful scenic overlook and a keystone of our trail system. In a deal brokered by GVLT, the City paid $500,000 for the property and the Burke family donated the remainder of the property value. To cover transaction costs, sixty-nine GVLT donors contributed over $24,000 and the city contributed an additional $20,000.

Well-Earned Awards

Bozeman 2008

GVLT’s many trails accomplishments earned two recent awards. In November 2008, at the American Trails National Trails Symposium in Little Rock, Arkansas, Trails Program Coordinator Gary Vodehnal was recognized with the 2008 Montana Trail Worker Award. In his 12-year career at GVLT, Gary has played the lead role in over $1 million of trail projects around Bozeman including six major bridges and many miles of new trails.

All our accomplishments are the products of successful partnerships, and on National Trails Day in June 2009 the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks presented its Trail of the Year Award to GVLT and two of our longtime partners— the City of Bozeman and Bozeman Noon Rotary which started the trail system in 1978.