Mount Jumbo Project, continued

With Mount Jumbo in mind as a primary goal for protection, two county-wide attempts to pass an open space bond met with failure in 1994. But by 1995, FVLT had secured an option to purchase the largest block of the mountain and a new campaign was launched to pass a city-wide bond with a focus on protecting Mount Jumbo.  A committee was formed, and FVLT assumed the roles of facilitation and fundraising for the campaign.  FVLT hired a campaign coordinator and began a public information campaign that included speaking to civic groups, church groups, schools, on radio and television shows, filling the Missoulian with opinion pieces and letters to the editor, and much more.  Thanks to the incredible reach and impact of this campaign, Mount Jumbo (and the community effort to protect it) became a household word.

By the fall of 1995, FVLT has signed options to purchase all four privately owned properties on Mount Jumbo totaling more than 1,600 acres.  The appraised value for these land purchases totaled $3.3 million.

A critical moment in the campaign was the snowy November day when the citizens of Missoula turned out to vote overwhelmingly in favor of a $5 million dollar open space bond, with $2 million earmarked for Mount Jumbo.  With an additional $1.3 million needed to complete the purchases, in the beginning of 1996 FVLT moved forward in an effort to secure the remaining funds.  Thanks to the overwhelming support of the Missoula community and partners like Save Open Space, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and the Nature Conservancy, by March 1997, the last of the four properties was purchased.  By April 1997, most of the property was in the hands of the City of Missoula, with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Forest Service both assuming ownership of smaller parcels.

While FVLT took the lead role in protecting Mount Jumbo, this success was truly a community effort.  The passage of the city-wide bond, the many partners who played a role in the campaign, and the hundreds of individual donations that made this project possible stand as testament to the value that the Missoula community places on the landscape.  Thanks to this city-wide effort, 1,600 acres of Mount Jumbo are now permanently protected as an invaluable resource that sustains the Mount Jumbo/Rattlesnake elk herd and other wildlife species; maintains the Missoula Valley’s scenic viewshed; and provides the citizens of Missoula with public open land recreation opportunities right outside their front door.  Just as important, this fixture of life in Missoula will continue to shape and define our community for generations to come.