connecting land and peopleFALL 2017 NEWSLETTER OF PRICKLY PEAR LAND TRUST

FRANK GRUBER WAS JUSTFOUR YEARS OLD when his brotherWilliam “Bill” Gruber left their home inToston to join the Civilian ConservationCorps. Just six years later, Frank and hisseven remaining siblings learned thattheir brother died at the CabanatuanPOW Camp after serving in World WarII in the Philippines and sufferingthrough the Bataan Death March.Frank, now 84 and the youngest of

the Gruber siblings, says he mostlyremembers Billthrough the stories his older brothers toldhim. “They said hewas mechanicallyinclined,” Frank said.Frank remembershearing a story of a “bullgine” thebrothers cobbled together from aweathered Model T and the rare chassisof a solid rubber-tired chain drive truck. Seventy-five years have passed since

Bill’s death, but Frank and other familymembers never gave up hope ofbringing Bill’s remains back home toMontana for a final resting place. WhenBill died, his remains were buried at theCabanatuan POW cemetery along withthe remains of 10 otherswho died that same day. “We visited that

cemetery,” Frank said. But the exact location ofBill’s remains was amystery until earlier thisyear when his remainswere positively identifiedthrough DNA testing. In August of this year,

Bill Gruber returned toMontana in a casketdraped with an Americanflag. A memorial was held in his honorat St. Helena Cathedral before he waslaid to rest, with full military honors,

at St. John the Evangelist CatholicCemetery near Boulder.“It was a closure to us,” Frank said,

“to think that he is home.”Frank said he and his wife of 64

years, Bonnie, visit Bill’s grave inBoulder, but now Frank and Bonniehave a place closer to their Helenahome to honor Bill’s memory. Recently,the William Gruber Memorial Loop wascompleted at PPLT’s Tenmile Creek Park.The 1.7-mile trail begins across the

street from the VAHospital and connectswith the Creek Looptrail. Along the William

Gruber Memorial Trailwill be a plaque withthese words: “WilliamDawson Gruber was

born on January 25th, 1920, inTownsend, Montana. The third childborn to Ed and Dora Gruber, heattended schools in Toston andTownsend while being raised on theirranch in the Crow Creek Valley. Heenlisted in the Army Air Force inOctober of 1940 and was shipped out to the Philippines one year later. He survived the Bataan Death March

and later died frominanition in a Japaneseprison camp onSeptember 27th, 1942. His remains wereidentified and returnedon August 8th, 2017, and are now interred with his parents at St.John the EvangelistCemetery in the BoulderValley. May God granthim eternal peace.”The Gruber family has

been a great partner toPPLT. Until about six years ago, Frankowned the Head Ranch (which included

what is now PPLT’sSevenmile Creekparcel). Frankapproached PPLTabout placing a conservationeasement on about400 acres of theproperty, but thedetails of theeasement werenever finalized andthe Grubers endedup selling the ranch. When PPLT acquired the Peaks to

Creeks land, which includes TenmileCreek Park and the Sevenmile Creekparcel, in 2016 with financing helpfrom the Army Compatible Use Buffer Program and The ConservationFund, Frank was paying attention.“I read in the paper that PPLT was

building a trail,” Frank said. “I thoughtit would be a good place to leave amemorial to my brother.”Frank contacted PPLT Executive

Director Mary Hollow and several ideaswere tossed around. “I didn’t have a specific thing in

mind,” Frank said. “I was going to make a donation with the idea that

something would be named after him.”As Tenmile Creek Park evolved,

Frank became instrumental in helpingthings come together — from securinga good deal on the decomposed graniteused on the trails to planning theparking lot.“One goal for Tenmile Park was to

bring the benefits of open space andcreek access to a broader number ofstakeholders in the community —veterans being treated at Fort Harrison,soldiers training there, people withlimited mobiliy, as well as school groupsand families,” Mary said. “This is anincredible piece of open space — andworking with the Fort, with Frank andother veterans has been a wonderfulpartnership in highlighting theveteran population, which is huge in Montana."A memorial celebration and plaque

dedication is planned for the springof 2018 for the William GruberMemorial Trail. Frank said he is happywith the way things worked out.“I just didn’t want him to beforgotten,” Frank said of his brother.“I just wanted to do something.”

A TRAIL TO REMEMBER

Our mission is to inspire connections to the landscapes, water, wildlife, recreation and agricultural heritage of west-centralMontana through conservation, now and for future generations.

One goal for TenmilePark was to bring thebenefits of open spaceand creek access to a broader number ofstakeholders in the

community.

New loop honoring a brother’s life opens at Tenmile Creek Park

William Gruber

William GruberMemorial Loop

Frank and Bonnie Gruber lookthrough a scrapbook of photos,letters and news clippings ofFrank’s brother, Bill.

Eliza W

iley

THANKS TO SPONSORS, auctionitem donors, auction item buyers andall attendees and volunteers, the 2017Harvest Moon Banquet and Auctionwas yet another record breaker. Tickets for the event, which took

place Sept. 23 at the Helena CivicCenter, sold out well in advance andthe room was abuzz with the energyand passion of folks coming togetherto support trails, community

conservation and a legacy of openspace for future generations.New for this year’s Harvest Moon

was the Golden Raffle. Up until the liveauction started, folks had the chance tobuy a Golden Raffle Ticket. There wereonly 100 tickets sold and each ticketcost $100. The winner of the GoldenRaffle won the opportunity to chooseany live auction item, excluding DaleLivezey’s beautiful painting, “Mount

Helena Over Ten Mile.”The winner of the

raffle was VenusVillalva, who chose theGlacier Adventure forFour, which includes astay in a cabin on LakeMcDonald, homemadeItalian cuisine, a guidedadventure in GlacierNational Park anddinner at the BeltonChalet. The auctionitem was donated by Aidan Myhre andLaura Sanders.

A.L. Swanson surprised the roomwhen he doubled his auction donation.Because of his generosity, two bidderswere successful in winning his“Buildable Feast” — the opportunity todesign and build aone-of-a-kind pieceunder Swanson’stutelage and have acelebratory dinnerserved up by him. “Harvest Moon

this year was incredible,” said PPLTExecutive Director Mary Hollow.“Tickets sold out weeks in advance,and the event raised more funds forconservation and trails than it ever has

in previous years. Perhaps though, the most important things were themany new faces in the crowd mixed inwith our longtime supporters. We areexpanding our base and bringing new

people into theconservation tent.That is critical for thefuture of Prickly PearLand Trust.” Special thanks goes

to our Harvest Mooncommittee members: Jonathan Krauss,Bob Walker, Ann Mary Norton, StuartSegrest, Kate Logsdon, Janet Robinson,Robert Rasmussen, Jane O’Driscoll, Jane Kollmeyer, Laura Sanders andSheila Habeck.

Several PPLT staff members and Irecently attended the Land TrustAlliance (LTA) Rally conference inDenver with 2,000 of our land trustcounterparts from across the nation.The conference offered greateducational opportunities for staffand our organizationaldevelopment.

LTA manages the nationalprocess by which land trusts becomeaccredited, and PPLT was honoredduring theconference thisyear as one of the300 accreditedland trusts in theU.S. PPLT continuesto be recognized among our landtrust peers for our Peaks to Creeksproject and our partnerships withthe military and disabilitiescommunities to expand the benefitsof conservation.

LTA invited PPLT to join itsleadership council, which gathers 40of the "top-performing" land truststo share best practices and advisethe LTA board.

We are proud of theserecognitions, but I mention thembecause they belong to you — our members, supporters, andcommunities. The sky is the limitwhen we all pitch in.

Increasingly, land trusts arebecoming keycomponents incommunityplanningdiscussions, which issomething I have

been thinking about a lot lately inlight of our population growth,demands on outdoor amenities, andrecent natural disasters. My headhas been full of questions. Wheredoes residential development make

sense? What areas areimportant for wildlifecorridors? How do wemanage recreation in a way that doesn’tcompromise the integrityof our existing trails andopen space?

Along these lines, PPLThas been engaging moreand more with the goal topreserve the integrity of ourconservation and recreationresources/investments in the faceof increasing/changing use anddevelopment pressures. PPLTincreased our trails staffing this yearto increase coordination, and wepartnered recently with the HelenaTourism Alliance and the City ofHelena on a trail-use study. Theinformation from the study willprovide useful data that will help us all make the most informed

decisions going forward. More tocome soon.

Each of you has been integral inthe work that PPLT is doing — onyour next hike or run, I hope you'lltake a minute to celebrate!

–Executive Director Mary Hollow

HARVEST MOON SETSANOTHER RECORD

Jaso

n O’N

eill

Jaso

n O’N

eill

“We are expandingour base and bringingnew people into theconservation tent.”–Executive Director Mary Hollow

Attendees respond generously during the live auction’s Direct Giving Moment.Left: PPLT’s Lanie White shows Dale Livezey’s “Mount Helena Over Ten Mile”to prospective bidders.

Janet HedgesJanet was born in Missoula and lived in Billings most of her early years. She moved to Helenain 1989 where sheworked for theMontana StateUniversity System for 10 years. Janet is a graduate ofCarroll College with abachelor’s degree inbusiness managementand finance. She hasbeen in the financialservice industry since

January of 2000. As a CertifiedFinancial Planner™, she runs theHelena Branch of Raymond James

Financial Services, Inc.Growing up, herplayground wascentered in theBeartooth andAbsaroka mountains asher family camped,rode horseback, hikedand fished almost everyother weekend. Sheappreciates the abilityto recreate in openlands and wants to

make sure that optionis available for futuregenerations to come.

Eliza FrazerEliza first fell in lovewith Montana as ateenager, enchantedby the brilliant stonessparkling in the rivers (not at all likePittsburgh’s), the unimaginable spaceand the smell of sagebrush. She cameoften to ski, fish and bird hunt, andfinally moved to Helena in 1992. Themove “home” to Montana was delayed

by a BA at Wesleyan, anMBA at the Universityof Chicago, and adozen years of deskjobs, mostly in finance. In Helena, she has been on the boards of several nonprofitsincluding the HolterMuseum and theMontana chapter of

the Nature Conservancy. Eliza and herhusband Barry Hood are thankful tohave raised their son, Jack, in Helena.They continue to enjoy Montana’soutdoors most every day.

WELCOME ABOARDPPLT BOARD WELCOMES TWO NEW MEMBERS

These recognitions...belong to you — ourmembers, supporters,and communities.

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Looking for a way to show howmuch you love Helena?

Lynda Saul has a suggestion — considersetting up an endowment through theMontana Community Foundation. Lynda did just that 12 years ago. When Lynda moved to Helena aftergraduate school in 1986, she was

smitten. “I feel lucky to have foundHelena,” Lynda said. “I love Helena.”After she participated in a job

exchange that took her to Washington,D.C. for a year, Lynda returned toHelena and learned about the MontanaEndowment Tax Credit. The MontanaEndowment Tax Credit allows peoplewho make a qualified planned gift to a

qualified charitable endowment(like Prickly Pear’s at the MontanaCommunity Foundation) toreceive a valuable tax credit,which is dollar-for-dollar at thestate level in addition to thecharitable deduction on one’sfederal taxes.“I learned about the tax credit

and said ‘I want to do that,’”Lynda said. “I started my ownendowment: the ‘I Love HelenaEndowment.’ The cool thingabout it is you don’t need atruckload of money to start anendowment; you can contribute

annually and, assuming you have taxliability, you can take the tax credit withyour donation.”PPLT is among the beneficiaries of

Lynda’s endowment. Planned gifts, likeLynda’s, are gifts that benefit PPLT’sfuture every year and help us continuethe work of connecting land and peoplefor generations to come.“The purpose of it for me is about

leaving a legacy for the future,” Lyndasaid. “I encourage everyone who isphilanthropically inclined and wants toleave a legacy of open space and trailsand view space—join me in making aplanned gift to Prickly Pear Land Trust.”You can make a difference in PPLT’s

future through tax-credit eligibleplanned gifts at the MontanaCommunity Foundation or throughPPLT’s own endowment managed atD.A. Davidson. Contact Lanie White,Development Manager, at 406-442-0490 or lanie@pricklypearlt.org to talkabout the option that’s best for you!

THERE IS A NEW ADDITIONto the Mount Ascension landscape thatis giving hikers, runners, bikers anddogs alike big single-track smiles. After a long summer of construction,Aftershock Trail, named after theearthquake that shook constructioncrews out of bed this summer, is finallyopen to the public. The 1.1-mile longcontour-style trail is a nice, easy climbfor those that do not want to go all the way up the 2006 switchbacks and provides a contrast to the steepEntertainment Trail. Along the way, you will see interesting rock outcrops,mature and young forest stands, andbeautiful views of Rodney Ridge. On the south end, the City of Helena is working with a contractor to build a 40-foot long bridge over a gully that makes for a seamless transitionbetween Aftershock and Entertainmenttrails. The city will be reclaiming theland/route where construction crewsaccessed the bridge area... it could takea while due to weather.Many hands got dirty building this

trail. Initially planned and designed byCity of Helena Open Lands and PPLT,

the trail was constructed by PPLT staff,Helena Open Lands crews, MontanaConservation Corps crews andnumerous volunteers. This trail is yet another example in the South Hillsof trail users and stakeholders comingtogether to make our trail system evenbetter. If the enthusiasm that went intobuilding this trail is any indication, theSouth Hills will be in great shape for years to come.

THE SOUTH HILLS ARE ATREASURE as much for their trails,wildlife and views as for the ease ofaccess for the community. Many SouthHills trail-users walk or bike from theirfront doors to the trails, while othersare just a short drive away. The vastmajority of trail mileage in the SouthHills is on public land owned by the Cityof Helena, U.S. Forest Service or BLM,but some miles traverse private property. Where trails cross private property,

PPLT does its best to step in to helplandowners and trail-users achieve thebest outcomes. In some cases, thisrequires closing trails and reroutingusers onto nearby public lands. Inothers, landowners may grant someform of public access either via informal

agreement or by signing a formal traileasement. No matter the agreement, as trail

users and PPLT members we mustremember to thank these land ownerspersonally and respect their agreementsby staying on the trail over their propertyand being good stewards of the littleslice of land they have given us access to.One formal type of agreement is a

trail easement. A trail easement is alegal instrument that grants publicaccess to a piece of private land intoperpetuity for an agreed upon activity. One local resident recently donated

a trail easement to PPLT that givespublic access to a piece of trail runningthrough his property for non-motorizedrecreational use.

Meet our newest landsteward, Dan Warhank

Tell us a little aboutyourself. I am a Helenanative and work atMontrose Air QualityServices as anenvironmental engineer. I love backpacking, mountain bikingand skiing, but recently I became a dad,so I spend most of my time enjoying my kids!

What inspired you to donate a trail easement to PPLT? I grew uphiking and running the trails in theSouth Hills. I decided to donate a traileasement because I think the trails aregood for the community and I want to do my best to support them.

EXPERIENCE THE AFTERSHOCKCheck out the newest trail in the South Hills system

trails

TRAIL EASEMENTS BENEFIT TRAIL USERS AND PROPERTY OWNERS

AFTERSHOCK TRAILLength: 1.15 milesRock Retaining Walls: 8Number of people who helped build it: 107Number of Volunteer Hours: 397Tools Broken: 2

PLANNED GIVING IS A GIFT FOR PPLT’S FUTUREPLANNED GIVINGOPTIONS

Setting up an endowment is justone way to help PPLT throughplanned giving. Other plannedgiving options include:

• Designating PPLT as a beneficiary of your IRA, ROTH, 403(b), 401K or deferred compensation

• Deferred gift annuities, eligible for the Montana tax credit

• Bequests through your will• Designating PPLT as a beneficiary on a paid-up life insurance policy

• Real estate gifts• Stock gifts• Transferring all or part of yourIRA RMD (for donors 70 ½ and older) through an IRA Rollover Gift

“I encourage everyone who wants to leave a legacy of open space to join me in making a planned gift to Prickly Pear Land Trust.”–Lynda Saul

TRAIL MAP UPDATEAVAILABLE SOONA new and improved version of the South Hills Trail Map will be available just in time forChristmas! The new map will includethe new trails — Aftershock and the Pinchot Trail reroute, updatedland ownership and other designimprovements. Maps are $8 and will be available in local outdoorstores and the PPLT office.

STAFF

Mary HollowExecutive Director

Andrea SilvermanLand Protection Coordinator

Lanie WhiteDevelopment Manager

Claudia DavisAdministrative Services

Peggy O’NeillCommunications and Events Coordinator

Evan KulesaTrails Coordinator

Nate KoppProject Manager

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John BeaverEliza FrazerJanet HedgesTyrrell HibbardChris HunterPaula JacquesSarah JaegerJane KollmeyerJonathan KraussDennis MilburnDawn North Ed SantosLeRoy SchrammJim UtterbackErin Woodrow

A TRAIL TOREMEMBER

EXPERIENCE THEAFTERSHOCK

HARVEST MOONSETS RECORDS

PRICKLY PEAR LAND TRUST

40 W. Lawrence, Suite APO Box 892Helena MT 59624406-442-0490

40 W. Lawrence, Suite A

PO Box 892

Helena MT 59624

Return service requested

Non-profit Org.

US Postage

PAID

Helena, MT

Permit #293

pricklypearlt.org

FALL 2017

connecting land and people

TRAIL MIX

Eliz

a W

iley

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!These members joined betweenAug. 17 and Oct. 31, 2017.We’re so glad you share our visionof connecting land and people!Together we will continue our workin private land conservation, trailsand community conservation!

We warmly welcome:Holly AlastraLura BrownJoe ConnellJason & Rebecca DavidsonTom FurlongJames & Lori MarlenColleen Martin & Kevin WardBob Morgan & Carl Deitchman

Arlene & Neil ParisotDave Perkins & Nancy Mackinnon

SAVE THE DATE The 2017 Volunteer AppreciationCelebration will be December 6at Free Ceramics, 650 LoganStreet, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.Come warm up with a bowl of

chili or soup, drinks and friendlycompany.All volunteers are invited.

Whether you worked on the trail system, participated on acommittee, were an Adopt-a-Trailvolunteer, participated in the Don’tFence Me In trail runs or HarvestMoon Banquet and Auction, workedin the PPLT office, or helped in anyother way, please plan on joining us. It is our way of acknowledging allthe volunteer efforts that make PPLT successful. Family members are also invited. It’s never too earlyto RSVP so we can plan food andbeverages. Call 442-0490 or email peggy@pricklypearlt.org. See you soon!

PPLT SCHWAG MAKESPERFECT STOCKING STUFFERS

Get your Christmas shopping done all in one spot and get a warm fuzzy feeling for supportingyour local land trust. PPLT has allkinds of gear in all kinds of sizes for all kinds of trail users. Check this list, you’ll find something for the naughty and nice:

T-shirts: $20Sweatshirts: $40Ball caps (in new colors!): $20Trail maps: $8License plate frames: $2Happy Trails beer glasses: $10

Stop by our office; we have new gear coming in soon.

SILVER SPONSORS

Allegra – Marketing, Print, MailAssociated DentalThe Base Camp

Christensen & Prezeau, PLLPCrowley Fleck AttorneysFischer Physical TherapyGeorge’s DistributingMorrison, Sherwood, Wilson, Deola PLLP

Morrison MaierleNicholson, Inc.Dr. Will Snider -

Pure View Health CenterOpportunity Bank of Montana

Placer MotorsStonetree Climbing

The James Brown Law Office, PLLCTaco del Sol/Hub Coffee

GOLD SPONSORS

WE THANK OURHARVEST MOONSPONSORS

PLATINUM SPONSORS

PRESENTING SPONSOR