Do you GIVE A HOOT about keeping Montana the last best place?

For over 30 years, WSE's mission has been to preserve the legacy of the West-wide open spaces, fish and wildlife habitat, and farming and ranching heritage by providing sustainable solutions that promote environmental stewardship and rural economic prosperity. We accomplish this by advocating, supporting, and incentivizing regenerative ranching practices.

Montana contains one of the last intact temperate-zone ecosystems remaining on the planet, with Park County being at the heart of it. This region remains primarily intact due to the farm and ranch families who carefully steward this land. Western Sustainability Exchange (WSE) believes the best way to protect the wide open spaces, environmental integrity, and cultural character of Montana is to work with our agricultural neighbors to be the best stewards possible.

WSE does this by helping landowners use regenerative agricultural practices that safeguard Montana's wildlife, streams, rivers, and grasslands. Because regenerative practices restore soil and plant health, they also increase water-holding capacity, wildlife habitat, and the ability of grasslands to capture and "sequester" carbon underground.

To encourage the transition to regenerative practices, WSE facilitates learning opportunities, peer support, and tools to assess land health and measure the effects of management on their land. Over the past few years, we have cultivated a network of over 650 ranchers & ag professionals throughout the West dedicated to learning and helping others make the transition.

WSE continually explores and implements innovative market and financial opportunities for ranchers to encourage the adoption of regenerative practices. We connect ranchers to new markets through our annual Expanding Markets Conference and work directly with companies to forge partnerships with ranchers in our network. Since 2017, WSE has facilitated a grassland carbon program offering payments to ranchers sequestering carbon through their exemplary grazing methods and is researching new opportunities like the up-and-coming innovative ecosystem services marketplace.

With our roots in local food, WSE has also organized and managed sixteen Farmer's Markets throughout the summer in Livingston for the last 20 years, giving farmers and ranchers throughout the region the opportunity to sell directly to consumers and bolstering the local rural economy by keeping shopping dollars local.

To date, WSE has helped over 2,000 ranchers switch to regenerative management on more than 1.95 million acres in Montana.

Together, with your support, we can:
Increase access to healthy food
Preserve Montana's spectacular landscapes and wildlife heritage
Transition more acres to regenerative management
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Strengthen Montana's rural economies

By supporting ranchers who are working with nature, we can help them improve their land health, their bottom line, and remain stewards of the vast landscapes we all enjoy!

JOIN US in keeping Montana as the last best place for future generations!

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