West
The Alliance’s Western Division covers a vast landscape — from arid deserts to old growth redwood rainforests, from Arctic tundra to Hawaii’s tropical islands, from productive farm and ranchlands to wildlife-rich estuaries. It encompasses wide plains, stunning canyons, high mountain ranges, dramatic volcanoes and active glaciers.
Approximately 260 Alliance member land trusts work in the Western region and have protected over 32 million acres. While the land trust community is well-established, many land trusts in the West are relatively young; approximately 85% were formed since 1995. Land trusts in the West have a strong track record of working together to address big challenges and opportunities, such as climate resilience and community based conservation.
There are seven state associations in the region and a number of landscape-level initiatives and peer networks. Federal policy, including conservation funding and tax incentives, is a high priority for land trusts in the West, particularly in rural areas without local funding.
States we serve:
Western regional staff:
Wendy Ninteman, Western Director of Field Programs
Wendy lives in Missoula, Montana and manages the Alliance’s on-the-ground work in the 19 western states. She also works directly in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
wninteman@lta.org | 406-549-2750
Brad Paymar, Northwest Senior Program Manager
Brad lives in Portland, Oregon and works directly with land trusts in Oregon and Washington.
bpaymar@lta.org | 971-202-1483
Amanda Hill, Southwest & California Program Manager
Amanda lives in Denver, Colorado and works directly with land trusts in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Olahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas and Utah.
ahill@lta.org | 720-402-5842
Catherine Waterston, Western Program Coordinator
Catherine lives in Wenatchee, Washington and supports land trusts across the region.
cwaterston@lta.org | 971-202-1484
Programs in the West
- Land trust services: Land trusts can reach out to us for assistance with the following topics: excellence programming and capacity building, leadership development, peer exchanges, trainings, mentoring, board development, Standards and Practices implementation, partnership development, community conservation, climate change solutions and helping land trusts to improve their practices to better protect the local places people need and love.
- ACE programs: Delivering organizational capacity initiatives in Texas, Colorado and the Pacific Northwest.
- Pacific Northwest Resilience Landscapes Initiative: Distributing land capital grants in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Learn more.
- Ask an Expert: We host conference calls for western land trust staff by western land trust staff. Check out the archive on The Learning Center to listen to previous Ask an Expert conference calls.
- Field Notes eNewsletter: Read our monthly Field Notes email to hear about happenings in the West.