How BILT Began
Elouise's vision for BILT was rooted in the same principle that drove her legal work: re-establishing trust between land, people, and the institutions responsible for both. During her decade on the board of the Montana Nature Conservancy (TNC), she built lasting relationships with allies including Jim Scott, chairman of First Interstate BancSystem, and Jamie Williams, former Director of the Montana Nature Conservancy, bringing together these partners with amskapi pikanii community leaders and knowledge holders.
In 1999, with the assistance of TNC and collaboration of many organizations and individuals, the Blackfeet Indian Land Conservation Trust Corporation was officially incorporated with founding members Elouise Cobell, Donald Dubray, and Earl Old Person. As the first land trust in the country on an Indian reservation, this represented a historic moment for not only amskapii piikani people but a monumental precedent for indigenous land and people everywhere.
In April 1998, Elouise led a field tour of properties along the Blackfeet Reservation’s Rocky Mountain Front with TNC board members and staff, identifying lands that might benefit from protection. Among the properties identified was the Flat Iron Creek or Scriver Ranch, owned and managed by Bob and Dorothy Lorraine Scriver since the 1950s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased a conservation easement over the land in 2000, securing permanent habitat protection for its wetlands and migratory wildlife, and in 2001 TNC acquired the property. Full ownership was transferred to BILT in 2003, and since this time BILT has overseen and worked to secure funding for stewardship and community use of the property.
1998
Elouise Cobell joins TNC Montana board; led conversations on land trust formation
1999
Blackfeet Indian Land Trust Articles of Incorporation filed with Montana Secretary of State
2000
USFWS conservation easement established over Flat Iron Creek Ranch (Yellow Bird Woman); founding board convened
2001
TNC purchases Flat Iron Creek Ranch
2001
Strategic Planning meeting at the ranch with BILT, TNC, USFWS, Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, BFCC, Audubon Society, Piegan Institute, Browning Public Schools, and others
2002
$1 million NAWCA grant awarded for permanent wetland habitat protection; "Trust" name confirmed
2003
Conservation Management Plan completed by Jason Wilmot (Yale); TNC transfers property ownership to BILT
2006
TNC endowment established for BILT operations and management
2009
Blackfeet Environmental Office wetland assessment workshop at the ranch
2013
Property dedicated and memorialized in Elouise’s honor as the Yellow Bird Woman Sanctuary
2026
BILT hires first employee (Smudge Keeper)
