Mississippi Valley Conservancy has been recognized for its conservation leadership through the following achievement awards:

• Land Trust of the Year - WI 2008
• Conservation Organization of the Year - La Crosse County 2008
• Conservation Project Award - 2009
• Wildlife Habitat Improvement Award - Crawford County 2009
• Friend of Conservation - Outstanding Organization - WI 2009

The achievements of Mississippi Valley Conservancy are exemplified by the state’s Land Trust of the Year award in 2008. MVC was recognized for its work in conserving more than 3,000 acres of western Wisconsin land in 2007, along with many other accomplishments in preceding years.

The award is made annually by Gathering Waters Conservancy, the statewide group that supports more than 50 Wisconsin land trusts. Ralph Heath, MVC president at the time, said the award was a tribute to the MVC’s many partners, a highly motivated and competent staff and a dedicated and generous membership.

Nominators cited MVC’s accomplishments such as more than 7,000 acres in its seven-county area which had been protected by conservation easements or purchases. With support from nearly one thousand members, the conservancy built a staff of six plus interns and dozens of volunteers to carry out its programs of land acquisitions and easements from willing landowners, land restoration, and communications including Linked to the Land hikes and innovative educational video podcasts on its website. [As of 2011, MVC has more than 13,000 acres under permanent protection (more than $40 million worth of land) and has more than 1,500 contributing members.]

MVC was also praised for building partnerships with agencies, private organizations and municipalities. Karen Blodgett, community services specialist with Wisconsin DNR, cited the MVC’s partnership with the City of La Crosse in which MVC had leveraged some $1.4 million in city funds to protect almost 900 acres valued at about $4 million in the blufflands above the city.

In early 2009, MVC was recognized by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society as "Friend of Conservation - Outstanding Organization."

MVC's executive director, Tim Jacobson, said, "We are very pleased to receive recognition from conservation professionals around the state.  We must give credit to the wonderful landowners who work with us to conserve their precious properties for the benefit of people today and countless future generations.  They are true conservation heroes, and we are indebted to them for their leadership and generosity.  These landowners are the living embodiment of the land ethic that Aldo Leopold wrote about in the Wisconsin classic, A Sand County Almanac."