The Pioneers Alliance is a coalition of diverse participants including local residents, ranchers and farmers, elected and agency officials, and representatives of conservation organizations. The Alliance’s work is made possible by volunteer contributions of time and the efforts of professionals. The work is coordinated by a core group of local residents and conservationists who meet regularly to discuss priorities and implement projects.

We work to address priorities as defined by local residents and landowners. Key issues that have been identified to date include protecting working farms and ranches, conserving wildlife and their migration corridors, expanding economic and community development opportunities, deepening the engagement of ranchers in public lands management, addressing the future of state lands, and addressing issues related to sage grouse.

The Alliance’s work to date has included:

• a grassroots campaign that successfully removed from consideration a proposed energy transmission corridor that would have fragmented the landscape
• dialogue among local residents, elected and agency officials, and conservationists regarding a collective long-term vision for the landscape and appropriate strategies for achieving that vision
• collaborative community development projects to engage local residents and visitors alike in the many values of the landscape
• passage of a county-level measure that is providing funding for conservation in the region
• securing funding and completing conservation easements on critically important private lands
• studies of the migration and habitat use patterns of key species including sage grouse, mule deer and pronghorn. The Alliance’s work led to the documentation of a previously-unrecognized 150-mile migration route.

The Alliance’s key priorities are to:

• continue to secure funding for and complete conservation easements on important ranches and farms.

To date, support for this work has been provided by volunteers, nonprofit organizations, public agencies, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The Brainerd Foundation, among others. The Alliance is a collaborative effort of existing organizations and individuals. And is not its own stand-alone formal organization.