The old ranch dog, Scooter, stands in the doorway of the barn at Buker Ranch on a spring afternoon. The names of the 5 Buker children are scribbled on the wooden barn door, a lasting testament to a family’s presence in a beloved place.
Scooter was the righthand man to John “Ranger Jack” Buker, the father of Clarissa (Buker) Patzer and James Buker, who are sitting and visiting in the barn with Clarissa’s husband, Tony Sheerer, about growing up on the ranch. When Jack passed away on the ranch several years ago, Scooter was right by his side. When Scooter was given a new address, he managed to find his way back to his ranch where he still stands guard today.
Clarissa says, “Everyone moved away, but we always make it back to the ranch. The kids… a horse… even the dog,” she laughs. “We’re all back on the ranch.”
Situated where Big Creek Canyon meets the valley floor in Victor, the ranch was homesteaded in 1880 by Clarissa and James’ great-great grandfather John M. Buker under the ‘Homestead Act’ signed by President Cleveland. The ranch has historically farmed hay and raised cattle and horses. And, thanks to a hard work ethic and love of the land that spans 9 generations, the 160-acre ranch will be forever protected through a conservation easement.
The Buker family’s determination to keep the same land in their family has required grit and sacrifice for nearly 150 years. When earlier generations needed to stock up on supplies, they would travel north to Missoula every three months – a three-day journey by horse and wagon.
When asked what it means to their family that the land was held together for so long thanks to the family members that came before them, Clarissa says, “It means everything. They had to do everything to keep the land together. If they had sold this land, it would likely be subdivided today. When times were tough, they adjusted and found new ways to make a living – they farmed apples, milked dairy cows, logged the timbered acreage by hand with horses, outfitted up Big Creek Canyon…. They just made it work. You didn’t gripe, you just did it.”
That same work ethic has been passed down through the generations. Clarissa, James and their siblings and cousins learned to love a good, hard day’s work from early on.
“Coming out here to visit our Grandpa and Grandma Buker, there’d be 9 of us kids all doing chores - picking up rocks on the property. It was almost the equivalent of a tractor,” laughs James. “We worked and helped buck hay by hand. Even as kids we would be out helping work the land every day when we came to the ranch. It was always ‘help with the cattle, horses and hay.’ The Buker work ethic becomes a part of your soul. They instilled a ranching work ethic in all of us. It’s not a 9 to 5 job.... Ranching has no time – the cows don’t care when it’s Christmas Day, you better be up when the sun comes up.”
Active in the Victor agricultural community, the Buker family were founding members of the Big Creek Lakes Reservoir Association. They helped to build the original Big Creek Lakes dam between 1897-1906. The water was used to provide late season irrigation to approximately 2,500 acres of ranch/farmlands. Following Buker generations have maintained involvement as officers of the Big Creek Lakes Reservoir and have been pivotal in the maintenance and operation of the dam itself, including its total rebuild in the 1970s.
The Big Creek drainage serves as an important habitat corridor and thoroughfare for the many species of wildlife on the west side of the valley. The Buker Ranch’s large, open and unfenced irrigated fields provide foraging habitat for herds of elk, raptors, migrating birds, and owls. Whitetail deer graze the property year-round, and a pond on the property serves as teaching grounds for various birds to teach their young to hunt.
As rural areas like the Bitterroot Valley continue to experience unprecedented growth and subdivision, the threat of losing agricultural lands, water resources, and open space are at an all-time high. The rapid growth of the valley was one of the driving factors for the Bukers to pursue the conservation easement with BRLT.
“The growth the Bitterroot is experiencing had a huge impact on pursuing the conservation easement – and, the fact that we know that it will be intact forever,” says Clarissa. “At one point our family thought we were going to have to sell the ranch, and we didn’t want to. We thought, there’s got to be some way to keep it. And that’s when we found out about the land trust and the conservation easement.”
The project was made possible thanks to federal funding received from the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), and local bond dollars from the county-voted Ravalli County Open Lands Bond Program.
“I’ve lived out here my whole life, and you never realize that it might be gone someday. Mom and dad would be proud,” says Clarissa.
Thank you to the Buker family for your vision for conservation, and for helping to keep a spectacular property in-tact for future generations.
“We have no regrets that we did this. It’s more fulfilling every day. Somebody way back there from the Buker family is going, wow…. I can’t believe the ranch is still there today.”
To learn more about the Ravalli County Open Lands Program, visit the Ravalli County website. To learn more about the NRCS RCPP program, click here.
The road to conservation is unique for every family that BRLT has the honor of working with to protect the land they love. The Ellison family’s legacy of over six decades spent ranching in the Bitterroot inspired siblings Dan, Mike, Sarah, Cathy, and Rebecca to pursue the protection of their family ranch so that future generations would have the opportunity to create their own memories on the land someday.
Jean and A.C. Ellison, 1954
“Mom and Dad bought the ranch in 1960,” says Dan, recalling memories of moving from Florence to what became the Ellison Ranch. “When it came time for us to move to Stevensville, we drove cows and calves from a ranch on Eight-mile Creek down the Eastside Highway on horseback. That’s just the way you did it back then.”
Parents A.C. and Jean led the Ellison family in making the ranch their own, farming hay and corn for silage to support their cow/calf operation. Bisected by North Burnt Fork Creek, the ranch has always been, and continues to be, critical habitat for wildlife including whitetail and mule deer, turkeys, great blue heron, a variety of waterfowl, great-horned owls, sandhill cranes, and many raptor species.
“Back then, my folks weren’t too conservation oriented,” Dan continues. “They were totally focused on raising their five children and making a living in agriculture. But when we did a restoration project along North Burnt Fork Creek on the ranch in 2011, there was a bald eagle nest in a cottonwood tree there. Dad would drive Mom over to look at the eagles often, and it became a big deal for them – it got them started thinking about how to balance a livestock operation with what they could do for wildlife.” Having an endangered species, and the symbol of our nation, nesting on their ranch was the catalyst that got them thinking more seriously about conservation.
The creek restoration project, a partnership with Montana Trout Unlimited, allowed them to fence both sides of North Burnt Fork Creek where it bisects the property, protecting riparian vegetation and preventing streambank erosion from cattle. A major replanting effort followed a year later, and its positive results are visible throughout the stream corridor.
Mike reflects on the need to expand protected lands in the Bitterroot Valley.
“Our family has lived in the Bitterroot for 70 years and has seen dramatic changes – not all of which are for the better. As teenagers we could spend a day fishing on the Bitterroot River and not see another person. The project in 2011 to protect Burnt Fork Creek was a small, but important step for wildlife conservation. Now it’s a visible reminder of the value of open space in the valley, and will give future generations a glimpse of what life was once like in this part of the last, best place.”
After their father passed away in 2012, Jean and the Ellison siblings made the decision to lease the ranch out to a local ranching family.
“When Dad passed away, the ranch was running 660 head of yearling cattle and there really wasn’t a way for a transition to continue ranch operations in the next family generation,” says Dan. “With none of the siblings there to help mom it was harder to continue running yearlings on the ranch. But it was still important to all of us for it to stay in agriculture. Leasing it out first to the Myttys, and then to the Sutherlins, two great local ranching families, has made it possible to keep the ranch focused on livestock operations and preserving open space instead of it becoming a residential or commercial development.”
With a long-term lease in place, Mike, Sarah, and Dan got to work on a long-term plan. Despite being miles apart from one another- in Helena, the Pacific Northwest, and even London- they worked together to find a way to protect the ranch in perpetuity. A conservation easement tool, they learned, could help accomplish that.
“There is no way we could have protected the ranch if we hadn’t worked together as a team,” says Dan. “We talked about it, looked at the pluses and minuses, and decided it was worth it to forego income if that ground would eventually be developed, as opposed to knowing that it’s going to stay in agriculture in perpetuity. The easement combines protection for the wildlife the ranchland supports, a Montana lifestyle for future owners of the ranch, and continuation of the valley’s ongoing history in livestock and agriculture. We are overjoyed that with the help of the Land Trust we were able to get this easement over the goal line and get it done.”
Situated northeast of downtown Stevensville, the ranch is a proximal expansion of the more than 7,000 acres of contiguous private conservation easements completed by local landowners in partnership with BRLT and other land trusts in the Burnt Fork neighborhood. The Burnt Fork, named after the Burnt Fork Creek which starts in the Sapphire Mountains and flows through the neighborhood, is an area that has been used primarily for agriculture since the homesteading days. Officially completed in October, the Ellison Ranch conservation easement adds another 344 acres in the area that will be protected forever.
Reflecting on the project, Sarah says, “The valley has changed so much over the course of my life and this conservation easement preserves a portion of the valley. It keeps it rural. The connected land parcels that have been protected along South Burnt Fork Creek by the Land Trust creates a wildlife corridor that represents the landscape of my Montana childhood seventy years ago. It is a model of open lands preservation.”
The project was made possible thanks in part to funding received from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) program and the Ravalli County Open Lands Bond Program. With bond dollars passed by Ravalli County voters in 2022, the Open Lands Bond Program features an approval process that includes a comprehensive 5 phase review by the Ravalli County Open Lands Bond Board, County staff, and the Board of County Commissioners.
“I’m delighted that our County Commission was supportive of our project, that the people of Ravalli County passed the Open Lands Bond, and to the members of the Open Lands Bond Board for being so supportive of the effort,” says Dan.
And, thanks to the Ellison family’s support of conservation, future landowners will have the opportunity to fulfill a dream of working in agriculture just as their family did. Speaking on behalf of the family, Dan concludes,
“When the ranch is eventually sold, it will be sold with the conservation easement deeded. We hope that someday, a young couple will be able to live on the ranch and start a family built around ranching values – hopefully another generation that’s attracted to the Montana lifestyle of agriculture, livestock and open space that would continue to use and care for the ranch as it’s been used for decades.”
To learn more about the Ravalli County Open Lands Program, visit the Ravalli County website. To learn more about the NRCS RCPP program, click here.
Danny Roy pulls up to his family’s farmhouse driving a 1936 Chevy – the same pickup his uncle drove from the ranch to attend Victor School in the 1940’s. It’s a small glimpse into the window of what life looked like on the ranch when Danny’s family started what would become a longstanding legacy in Bitterroot agriculture, and what is being honored today by Danny through his decision to conserve the land in perpetuity.
The original 1890’s farmhouse, a herd of cattle quietly grazing in the forefront of the stunning Bitterroot Mountains, and the open land that surrounds it all are what make this place home to Danny – just as it was for his grandmother, father, mother, aunts, and uncles that worked the land before him. It's the place where thousands of calves have taken their first steps in the snowy spring, where endless tons of hay have been baled in the summer heat, and where wildlife find ample habitat in the meadows and timber year-round.
And, thanks to the vision of the Roy family and our community’s support for local conservation, it’s the place that will be able to continue a longstanding legacy of Bitterroot agriculture for many years to come.
"This ranch means the world to me. It's the only home I've ever known," says Danny. "The dream of my father, Ivan Roy, was always to keep the entire property preserved for farming and wildlife. I've always vowed to honor that dream."
Conserved in partnership with BRLT in January, the nearly 80-year-old family ranch is primarily used for agricultural production, including hay and pasture for cattle. The property’s diverse landscape of timber, wetlands, and open meadows provide exceptional habitat for wildlife, including elk, white tailed deer, sandhill crane, moose, and turkeys. Located in close proximity to several nearby conservation easements, both completed and in-progress in partnership with BRLT, the open space provides a corridor for wildlife to travel safely from the cover of the Bitterroot National Forest to neighboring ranchlands below.
Danny says, "I love this property for its history and the beauty. Many people stop along the side of my meadow to take pictures of the view of Bear Creek Canyon to the west. I can't imagine this property ever being split up or subdivided."
The Roy Ranch conservation easement was funded in part by the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), as well as the Ravalli County Open Lands Program, a local conservation funding program first approved in 2006, that was renewed with a 71% passage rate by Ravalli County voters in November 2022. The Open Lands Program provides funding to support landowners who wish to voluntarily conserve their land.
Thanks to the vision of the Roy family, the Bitterroot Valley community, and supporting programs like the NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program and the Ravalli County Open Lands Program, 176-acres of critical Bitterroot Valley agricultural land and wildlife habitat will remain forever intact.
To learn more about the Ravalli County Open Lands Program, visit the Ravalli County website. To learn more about the NRCS RCPP program, click here.
Photos by Abigail Landwehr for the Ravalli Republic
A Bitterroot family who have been ranching in the valley since the 1800’s have conserved their 540-acre ranch in Victor to offer permanent public access to the community, thanks in part to funding received from the Ravalli County Open Lands Program and the collaboration between several local partners in conservation.
The Hackett family has a history of being generous with access to their property, located approximately 3.5 miles west of Victor. They have provided the public with a diversity of recreational opportunities, including hunting and fishing access on private lands and recreational access to adjacent National Forest lands including the trail to the scenic Sweathouse Falls, one of the most popular day hiking destinations in the Bitterroot National Forest. Without the family’s decision to provide access, our community would not be able to reach the popular trail to the waterfall.
They were among the first in the state to sign up for FWP’s block management program over 25 years ago, with both elk and turkey hunters taking advantage of access to the private land through the program. Their vision to permanently allow this access was officially completed in November 2023 in partnership with BRLT, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Bitterroot National Forest, Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association, Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and the Ravalli County Open Lands Bond Program.
“Our family wanted to preserve the property for future generations but needed to receive some compensation for retirement,” says landowner Scott Hackett. “The conservation easement was able to accomplish both goals.”
(Photo from L to R: Diane, Scott, Prescott, and Molly Hackett)
The new conservation easement on the property maintains the family’s history of providing hunter access, ensures permanent protection of the rolling foothills that serve as winter range habitat for elk and mule deer, and the property’s shared boundary with the Bitterroot National Forest ensures that the wildlife that currently benefit from this habitat will continue to use this property long into the future. The property also includes three-quarters of a mile of Sweathouse Creek and a small stretch of Gash Creek, both of which are important westside tributaries of the Bitterroot River and serve as habitat for native westslope cutthroat trout.
Landowner Prescott Hacket, Scott’s father, says, “I had an airline pilot come up here and said he wanted just enough to build a house. And I said, yeah, that’s just the beginning of a subdivision, which I really don’t want up here. I just didn’t want it all broken up. I know somebody’s got to have a place to live, but dog-gone-it, I didn’t figure they had to live up here. I’d just hate to see this place all broke up into little chunks.”
Thanks to the vision and generosity of the Hackett family, the support from our partner agencies in conservation, and for our community’s dedication to local conservation and recent renewal of the Open Lands Bond, this gift of open space and access to the iconic mountain waterfall will continue to be enjoyed by future generations who explore the landscape, far into the future.
Directions to Hackett Ranch conservation easement:
From Stevensville: Travel south on Highway 93 for 5.6 miles and turn west (right) onto Bell Crossing W. Go 0.5 miles and turn south (left) onto Meridian. Travel 1 mile and turn west (right) at Sweathouse Creek Rd. Follow for approximately 4 miles. Veer left on dirt road that passes over the creek. Park along road next to gate with FWP and Open Lands Program signs. Please be sure to close gate behind you upon entry to keep cattle in pasture.
From Hamilton: Head north on Highway 93 for 11 miles. Turn left at Victor onto 5th Avenue. Travel 1 mile. Turn right onto Pleasant View Drive. Travel 0.5 miles. Turn left onto Sweathouse Creek Rd. Follow for approximately 2.8 miles. Veer left on dirt road that passes over the creek. Park along road next to gate with FWP and Open Lands Program signs. Please be sure to close gate behind you upon entry to keep cattle in pasture.
When landowners Luci Brieger and Steve Elliott started farming in the Bitterroot in 1979, they knew right off the bat that they wanted to do as little harm on the land as possible to grow healthy, organic, produce to feed their community.
Nearly 40 years later, the certified-organic farmland that serves as Lifeline Produce can continue to produce locally grown food for years to come through their small-scale operation, thanks to conservation.
The farm's newly conserved 78 acres spans over two properties – one along the Eastside Highway in Stevensville that serves as the farm’s main crop production area, and the farm’s headquarters located off McVey Road in Victor that includes a home, hoop house, green houses, and land used for crop production and rotational livestock grazing.
Lifeline Produce grows all their own hay and feed to support enough cattle and sheep to provide enough manure to make the compost that builds soil for crops. The farm grows potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, pumpkins, lettuce, cabbage, chard, zucchini, and onions, among other things. They also produce their own biodiesel fuel to operate farm vehicles, using waste cooking oil from Victor’s Hamilton House and the Mustard Seed Restaurant in Missoula. Most of their electricity is solar.
“This is our life’s work. Over the years we have been able to buy these 78 acres and rebuild healthy soils. We raised our three children here, and our family agreed we wanted this ground to be available for organic agriculture for generations to come,” says Luci. “We knew that a conservation easement would probably be a useful tool to make that happen.”
Both properties are in close proximity to other conservation easements completed by local families in partnership with the Bitter Root Land Trust, which will remain forever open and available for agriculture, wildlife and riparian habitat, as well as scenic views from highly traveled roads.
In addition to organic crop production, the farm also supports an apprenticeship program in which they have trained two farmers every year for many years.
“We need more farmers, and somebody needs to train them. We wanted future farmers to have the opportunity to operate this farm someday and knew that meant we’d need to permanently lower the land’s value by removing development rights through the conservation easement. Because if those farmers had to pay development prices, this land would certainly not stay in ag production. “ - Luci & Steve
Community members can purchase Lifeline Produce at the Good Food Store and Orange Street Food Farm in Missoula and Super One in Stevensville. The Western Montana Growers Co-Op also purchases and distributes Lifeline’s produce, in addition to goods offered by many other local growers, to grocery stores, restaurants, and institutions across Montana and into Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.
Thank you to Luci and Steve and their family for your vision for conservation, and continuing to fill our community's bellies with healthy, happy, Bitterroot-grown food!
What do productive farmland, open space for wildlife, and a big yellow taxi have in common?
For landowners Barry and Paulie Mills, they were all a part of the equation that inspired their decision to work with BRLT to conserve their 71 acres of farmland on Sunset Bench in Stevensville.
In close proximity to many other BRLT-held conservation easements in the area (including Triple D Ranch, Rory R Ranch, Kerslake Ranch, and Haywire Flats), Mills Farm is primarily used for alfalfa and grass hay production and irrigated pasture for cattle and horses.
Paulie's grandparents, Daizy and Michael Thoft, owned the Bar 24 Ranch across the road, known today as previously mentioned Triple D Ranch. Honoring her family's legacy in agriculture was important to Paulie and Barry, and they were excited to learn that a portion of the family ranch was conserved in perpetuity when the Triple D conservation easement was completed in partnership with BRLT last year.
“This land makes you really feel something, and every day it just reaffirms for us that protecting it was the right thing to do. We have always loved the Joni Mitchell song, 'Big Yellow Taxi' with lyrics that question paving paradise and putting up a parking lot, and not knowing what you've got 'til it's gone..... It’s such an important thing for people to connect with the outdoors and realize a sense of place. And if we don’t protect the settings that provide that, what will replace that sense of place if we sacrifice the very thing that draws people here?” - Barry and Paulie Mills
While the Sunset Bench area has seen increasing development pressure over the last few decades, BRLT has worked with dozens of families to conserve thousands of additional acres within a couple miles of the farm. The Mills Farm is in close proximity to many agricultural conservation easements, including the previously mentioned contiguous Triple D Ranch (420 acres), Rory R Ranch (1,260 acres), Griffin Ranch (202 acres), Kerslake Ranch (93 acres), and Peckinpaugh’s Lazy Burnt Fork Ranch (333 acres).
Thanks to your support, and critical funding received from the Ravalli County Open Lands Bond and the NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program, Barry and Paulie's vision has been carried out to forever protect this beautiful Bitterroot Valley landscape for future generations.
Lifelong Bitterroot Valley farmers and ranchers Bob and Laurie Sutherlin have spent decades establishing and growing Sutherlin Farms with a goal in mind: to keep their land in agriculture for generations to come. Bob was only a teenager when he first started buying cows, and until they could afford to buy their own, he and his wife Laurie rented ground to run their cattle and farm.
“When you grow up not having ground and have to put it together yourself, you take a different look at that land,” says Bob. “It’s something you worked your whole life for and wanted.”
Resting on some of the richest soil in all of Ravalli County, Sutherlin Farms is primarily used for irrigated crop production, including hay, alfalfa, grain and silage corn, all of which are grown to feed their cow/calf operation and herd of Red Angus that has seed stock all over the world.
“It takes good productive ground to raise enough hay to winter these cattle. You can’t just let it go away,” says Bob.
Nearly all of the farm – 99% to be exact – is identified by NRCS as “agriculturally important soil.” In addition to prime farmland, the property’s open space provides valuable wildlife habitat as well as areas for wildlife movement, especially for locally important species such as elk, deer, sandhill crane, bald and golden eagle, and other raptors.
With several other conservation easements close by and directly adjacent to the farm, the newly conserved Sutherlin Farms has added to the area’s preservation of open space near the Bitterroot River.
“Bob and Laurie making the decision to keep this ranch intact gives their grandkids the opportunity to carry on the family’s tradition of ranching when they grow up if they choose,” says daughter-in-law Lacey Sutherlin. “As parents, knowing they have that option to the contribute to the legacy in agriculture is really special for us.”
Thanks to the decision to conserve their farm, the Sutherlin family has guaranteed the preservation and enhancement of one more section of open space in western Montana – forever.
Nestled between the foothills of the Bitterroot Valley’s Sapphire Mountain Range and the Bitterroot River sits 820 acres of family property made up of pristine wildlife habitat, rangeland and scenic landscape that will remain forever preserved, thanks to the shared vision of a brother and sister who were ready to do their part in leaving a legacy for generations to come.
Once a part of the historic community of Rosemont, the property was officially conserved in perpetuity in February 2023 by co-landowners and siblings Charlie and Sarah DeVoe. The family property was originally purchased in the 1970’s by their father as an investment opportunity, who had the intent to install wells and power across the land, which had been split up into 20-acre tracts to prepare for subdivision and building of homes. The price may have been right for that outcome, but Charlie always had a feeling the land should stay undeveloped.
“You can always make more money,” says Charlie. “But you can’t make more land.”
When their father passed away, and the fate of the property was left to Charlie and Sarah, they both agreed that the land they had been coming to for years to camp, hunt and spend time together needed to be protected.
“To our family, this property is the prettiest place on earth,” says Charlie. “When you’re sitting up here in the foothills of the Sapphires and looking out across the valley… there’s truly nothing else like it. I don’t know a time in the last 40 years that we haven’t seen wildlife of one kind or another when coming up here. It would be horrible for the wildlife habitat and unique nature of this property should it ever be split up and sold off separately. Instead of selling off the individual parcels and leaving a big part of our family’s experiences and memories behind, our family decided to put the remaining 820-acres into conservation, together as one property.”
A diverse landscape that showcases many favorite attributes of the Bitterroot Valley, the property features over 150 different types of wildflowers, sagebrush shrublands and montane grasslands, forest, natural springs, streams and riparian habitat – all of which support local wildlife such as elk, black bear, mountain lion, mule deer, fox, owls, Brewer’s sparrow, and sage thrasher, as well as the ever-elusive wolverine and badger. Charlie remembers a day when he and his wife Alana counted over 300 head of elk spread out across the entire front of the property, the herd spanning over a mile across the land.
“There’s not another place I’ve found with more diverse amount of wildlife in such a small area,” says Charlie. “The animals are here year-round, and they’ve been here much longer than we have. You start to take that away, and they’re going to run out of places to live.”
In addition to pristine wildlife habitat, the conservation of the open space grasslands provides opportunities for local ranchers to continue cattle grazing practices by leasing some of the ground, ensuring that these lands will remain available for agricultural use in perpetuity.
“For the past 25 years, we’ve leased pasture out for grazing every year to local ranchers. It helps us, because it keeps the fire hazard down and benefits the health of the land, while offering a place for ranchers to run their cattle during a time when land is getting harder and harder to find around the Bitterroot. It’s a ‘win-win,” says Charlie.
As an added conservation value, all that the cattle and wildlife must navigate around is a hand-built dry cabin – the only standing structure on the property.
“Our daughter was living in Honduras as an exchange student in the early 2000’s with limited ability to communicate back home to Montana, when there was a coup in the country. That time was a little nerve racking for dad,” Charlie laughs warily. “I needed a project to keep my mind occupied, and that’s when I built the cabin.”
With a growing family that now includes grandkids, Charlie and Sarah are overjoyed with the land’s conservation outcome.
Landowner Charlie DeVoe
“We did this so that our family and others after us will have the opportunity to continue to enjoy the beautiful and irreplaceable views, flowers, plants, trees and wildlife on this special property. The wildlife will still have room to roam, no matter what. And above all else, anyone who has spent time here in the Bitterroot knows, this is truly the ‘last best place.’ And, if we don’t try to maintain open space, it will be gone forever.”
Fortunately, not only for the DeVoe family, but for the many Bitterroot community members and visitors who value the area’s legendary open space, wildlife and agriculture, another portion of the ‘last best place’ will remain protected forever.
“I feel strongly that the only thing that will be able to preserve more land like ours are supporters and programs like the Heart of the Rockies, NRCS and organizations like the Bitter Root Land Trust,” says Charlie. “Without them, and similar conservation efforts, this type of land will be changed forever. I am forever grateful for the Land Trust for helping to make this happen for us.”
Three miles south of Hamilton lies the winding Skalkaho Highway that takes many scenic travelers through an isolated section of the Sapphire Mountains each year, a 23,000-acre remote area that is densely forested and abundant with wildlife.
The road was constructed in the early 1920’s to link the mining areas of Anaconda and Phillipsburg with the agricultural communities of the Bitterroot Valley. Today, and for many more tomorrows to come, all that travel along this highway will pass by a section of wildlife habitat that will never be changed, developed, or disrupted, thanks to one landowner’s vision.
The 75-acre “Sough” property was officially conserved by BRLT in partnership with landowner Suzanna McDougal in December 2022, a decision that had been more than 30 years in the making.
“I’ve always wanted to conserve this property since I purchased it in the early 1990’s,” says Suzanna. “I fondly remember walking the land with BRLT founders Fletch Newby and Steve Powell back then, talking about the possibilities of conserving it. They pointed out many unique and historical aspects of significance throughout the property, including indications where the lapping waves of Glacial Lake Missoula had made marks on the big rocky outcroppings. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering when the right time would be for me to conserve it. I’ve realized that I’m not getting any younger, and this past year reignited the spark and I made the jump to finally get it done.”
Unique in many ways indeed, the property has qualities that differ from the irrigated farms and ranchlands that are so distinct in other parts of the Bitterroot Valley. It consists of mostly dry land, yet there is a highline ditch that flows on the south border which has created a riparian habitat on the dry land. The riparian area and its aspen, cottonwood and birch trees support various animal visitors year-round, including a wide variety of bird species, bobcats, mountain lions, and mule deer, and occasional visits from the Skalkaho herd of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep.
“As sheep populations across Montana continue to struggle with disease and habitat loss, protecting sheep winter range is crucial to ensuring their continued existence on the landscape,” says Rebecca Mowry, wildlife biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. “As the demand for housing in the Bitterroot Valley continues to grow, conservation easements are becoming more and more vital to preserve habitat for the wildlife Montanans so treasure. The Sough conservation easement represents this perfectly, with its proximity to Hamilton, its attractiveness as a building site, and its importance to a small but very visible bighorn sheep herd.”
The valuable habitat for the wildlife who share the property with Suzanna was one of the driving forces behind her decision to place it into conservation. She tells the story of a Bighorn ewe giving birth to a lamb on top of what she affectionately refers to as “Dragon Rock.”
“From a distance, I was able to watch this baby lamb come into existence; from the day it was born and over the next few weeks as she learned from her mother to jump from boulder to boulder. Another Ewe came along with another lamb, and the two babies would play up on the rocks. They seemed to both be excited to have a playmate.”
This story and many others like it make it no wonder why one would feel a strong connection with this land and care deeply about its fate. Because of this, Suzanna shares that she has done her very best throughout the years to keep her “human footprint” as minimal as possible, by participating in the State of Montana’s Forest Stewardship Program and planting hundreds of native flowers and trees throughout the property, including ponderosa pines that have grown to more than 25 feet tall. The cheatgrass that had once invaded almost 4 acres has been removed, with fast spreading fescue grass planted in its place.
“It was a positive experience, working with BRLT to get this done,” Suzanna reflects. “The staff coming out here, sharing their knowledge with each other and with me... It makes me wish that more people in the Bitterroot would conserve more of this place. It took me awhile to get to this place of finally being ready to conserve it, but now that I have, it feels good.”
Many thanks to the decision of Suzanna for finalizing her 30-year dream to protect this special piece of the Bitterroot for years to come.
As soon as fifth generation Bitterroot rancher Drew Lewis was old enough to move out on his own from his family’s commercial dairy farm in the Bitterroot Valley, he was ready to pursue a new avenue that he was certain wouldn’t include farming.
“Everything is easy compared to dairy farming,” says Drew with a laugh. “When I graduated and started my own fencing operation, I moved entirely away from ranching. I was ready for something new.”
It wasn’t until he met his wife Kaci, also a Bitterroot Valley native, and started a family of their own that they realized they missed the ranching lifestyle after all, with a shared dream of having their own cattle and piece of property someday. They started to explore ways that would make it possible for them to start their own operation.
But, it wouldn’t be that easy. Land values in the Bitterroot Valley have skyrocketed over the past few years just as they have all over Montana, making it nearly impossible for young people to enter the ranching industry on their own.
“Growing up here, you take all the open space and this way of life for granted until you realize that opportunity might not be available for you anymore,” says Drew. “The ag world seems to be vanishing, and we were determined to find a way to be able to afford something of our own, especially now that the valley has such high land prices.”
After learning more about the conservation easement tool through extensive meetings with the Bitter Root Land Trust, Drew and Kaci made the decision to purchase a 420-acre ranch in the Burnt Fork area of Stevensville with the goal to conserve the property always at the forefront.
Thanks to critical funding received from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Agricultural Land Easement Program and the Ravalli County Open Lands Bond, the Lewis family officially conserved Skyline Angus in partnership with the Bitter Root Land Trust in the summer of 2022.
The land consists mostly of hay and pasture ground that supports the family’s cattle operation. The ranch also serves as a wildlife corridor to a variety of different native species including elk and deer, adding to more than 7,000 protected acres of family farms, ranches and wildlife habitat in the Burnt Fork neighborhood alone, many of which were also made possible thanks to the funding support of the Agricultural Land Easement Program.
“We held true to our vision to conserve the ranch over the past few years, during a time when land values are incredibly high and we could have made more money selling the land to someone else,” says Drew. “Our motivation to work with the Bitter Root Land Trust to protect this place was in large part for the benefit of our kids. They all have their own cows that they are responsible for, help with chores and have come to love the ranching lifestyle. We want this to still be here for them and our grandkids someday.”
Thanks to the vision of the Lewis family, and critical support from funding partners like the NRCS, 420 acres of prime farmland is now protected forever.
The old ranch dog, Scooter, stands in the doorway of the barn at Buker Ranch on a spring afternoon. The names of the 5 Buker children are scribbled on the wooden barn door, a lasting testament to a family’s presence in a beloved place.
“There is no way we could have protected the ranch if we hadn’t worked together as a team,” says Dan. “We talked about it, looked at the pluses and minuses, and decided it was worth it to forego income if that ground would eventually be developed, as opposed to knowing that it’s going to stay in agriculture in perpetuity. The easement combines protection for the wildlife the ranchland supports, a Montana lifestyle for future owners of the ranch, and continuation of the valley’s ongoing history in livestock and agriculture. We are overjoyed that with the help of the Land Trust we were able to get this easement over the goal line and get it done.”
When landowners Luci Brieger and Steve Elliott started farming in the Bitterroot in 1979, they knew right off the bat that they wanted to do as little harm on the land as possible to grow healthy, organic, produce to feed their community.
electricity is solar.
“This land makes you really feel something, and every day it just reaffirms for us that protecting it was the right thing to do. We have always loved the Joni Mitchell song, 'Big Yellow Taxi' with lyrics that question paving paradise and putting up a parking lot, and not knowing what you've got 'til it's gone..... It’s such an important thing for people to connect with the outdoors and realize a sense of place. And if we don’t protect the settings that provide that, what will replace that sense of place if we sacrifice the very thing that draws people here?” - Barry and Paulie Mills
Once a part of the historic community of Rosemont, the property was officially conserved in perpetuity in February 2023 by co-landowners and siblings Charlie and Sarah DeVoe. The family property was originally purchased in the 1970’s by their father as an investment opportunity, who had the intent to install wells and power across the land, which had been split up into 20-acre tracts to prepare for subdivision and building of homes. The price may have been right for that outcome, but Charlie always had a feeling the land should stay undeveloped.
“As sheep populations across Montana continue to struggle with disease and habitat loss, protecting sheep winter range is crucial to ensuring their continued existence on the landscape,” says Rebecca Mowry, wildlife biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. “As the demand for housing in the Bitterroot Valley continues to grow, conservation easements are becoming more and more vital to preserve habitat for the wildlife Montanans so treasure. The Sough conservation easement represents this perfectly, with its proximity to Hamilton, its attractiveness as a building site, and its importance to a small but very visible bighorn sheep herd.”