The San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust was granted its federal tax-deductible non-profit status by the IRS on November 7, 1996, at which time formal operations began in earnest. The idea of starting a local land trust was avidly promoted a year earlier by conservation activists Carol Pedder of Rim Forest and Peter Jorris of Arrowbear Lake. Together they were affiliated with three environmental organizations that helped set the stage for the Land Trust.

First was the Deep Creek Open Space Coalition, which provided a dramatic example of the effectiveness of land protection. The group successfully fought off a major development project on 300 acres surrounding the wild trout stream of Deep Creek in the Running Springs area. Three years of perseverance (April 1993 to Summer 1996) culminated in the land being sold to the US Forest Service. Land acquisition proved to be the best solution for all parties involved and set a valuable precedent, insofar as similar private land conflicts were gradually occurring all across the mountaintop.

Another key group was the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society, which helped point the way by actually forming their own land trust in 1995 for the limited purpose of holding title to a special 70-acre bird sanctuary in the Forest Falls area. This proved to be a helpful model. As a board member of the Audubon Society, Peter Jorris learned about the workings of land trusts at a national conference on the subject, held in Monterey in October 1995. Over 900 representatives of land trusts attended.

The third influential organization was the Save Our Forest Association, which had been established in 1987 primarily to prevent adverse land exchanges by the US Forest Service. At Carol Pedder's prompting, they provided the necessary support to help launch the new Land Trust. A consultant from the Riverside Land Conservancy (one of the the first land trusts in the Inland Empire) was invited to lend professional guidance. During the first part of 1996, by-laws and articles of incorporation were drafted and submitted. A logo was designed, and a preliminary brochure was prepared to help generate support. The basic groundwork for the Land Trust was duly in place, when official certification ws granted that November. At that point, it was decided to separate the two boards of directors, which previously had overlapped, so that the new Land Trust could forge its own independent identity.

In 1997, new board members Judith Hert, Steve Watt, and Jerry Henderson joined the Land Trust to provide additional leadership. A special memorial fund in honor of founding board member John Heitman helped raise $1500 to the the organization underway. A grant of $5,000 from the Packard Foundation in June provided for new brochures, newsletters, and a slide show.

During the first two years the Land Trust continued to work on federal funding for land acquisition in concert with the Deep Creek Open Space Coalition, enabling the US Forest Service to buy an additional 400 acres in the Deep Creek Watershed. At this stage the Land Trust also became a property owner itself, when two parcels of land were donated as gifts, and a third was offered to be transferred at a future date.

More recent highlights include the obtaining of $2 millioon in 1999 from the state to protect wildlife habitat in the Arrowhead area; the publication of the first ever field guide for local mountain wildflowers; and implementation of a paid staff position in the summer of 2000. In November 2001, the Land Trust celebrates its first five years of operation, proud to have steadily grown in effectiveness each year.