For the the four generations of the Bolin family who have called Bolin Ranch ‘home’ for nearly a century, the passage of time has inevitably come with many changes. Tractors work the ground now instead of teams of horses, and nearby housing developments dot the horizon with homes where only the cows and elk once roamed.
While change will continue to come as more time passes, thanks to the tenacity of landowner Marlene Bolin, a conservation easement placed on the final corner of the family ranch solidifies a legacy of hard work, family and memories making a living in Bitterroot ranching.
“It gives me a sense of relief,” says Marlene of the ranch and the old barn that is still standing on the ranch, registered with the Bitter Root Cultural Heritage Trust, “knowing that 100 years from now, this ranch and maybe even this old barn will still be here. It gives value to what we’ve spent our whole life doing.”
When Marlene’s great-uncle and great-grandmother moved to the ranch during the Great Depression, they did not have modern conveniences like electricity and indoor plumbing. They were self-sufficient and lived for the most part off the land, often reciting the old saying, ‘If you can’t grow it, you don’t need it.’ For Marlene’s father, Ernie, a childhood spent waking up early to get his chores done before saddling his horse and riding to Lone Rock School was the norm. For Marlene, she remembers happy days of exploring and some chores, back when time and space seemed endless through the lens of a child growing up on the 5,000+ acres that make up the Bolin Ranches.
“Growing up, there were no rules to ‘stay in the yard’. My sister, Shirley and I would take off along Ambrose Creek and walk to our Grandmother’s house who lived 1/2 mile away on the ranch. We loved swimming in the creek, playing in the barn and doing chores with our parents. As teens we loved to rake hay for Dad to get our summer tans. Often our dad would ask, ‘Ya wanna go to the mountains?’ Which meant taking a drive around the ranch up in the Sapphires where we had our hunting camp. It could take us easily a good three hours. We’d watch for wildlife, check the cows’ salt and shoot an occasional gopher or two. It was always a joyful, serene time to relax and smell the pines. I also really enjoyed going horseback riding with my grandmother to the mountains. She rode until she was 87. It was a day-long event.”
When Marlene and her late husband, Ivan Roy, Jr., started conversations with the Bitter Root Land Trust in 2018 about placing an easement on their 166-acres, the conservation easement tool wasn’t a new concept for them.
In the 1990’s, Marlene’s parents Ernie and Bessie Bolin worked with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to place a conservation easement on 5,204 acres of the family’s Bolin Ranches – land located adjacent to the east of Marlene’s 166 acres. The early conservation easement is directly connected to two additional conservation easements completed in partnership with local landowners and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP): the Lewis Conservation Easement, and the Brown Valley Family Ranch Conservation Easement and south of the Threemile Wildlife Management Area (WMA) owned by the State of Montana and managed by FWP. Together, the neighboring conserved lands protect more than 13,000 acres of open lands and critical elk winter habitat, with the recent 166-acre conservation easement marking the latest addition.
Across the valley in Victor, Ivan’s brother, Danny Roy, also placed a conservation easement on their fourth-generation ranch, the Roy Ranch, conserving 176 acres in perpetuity on Victor’s westside. The conservation easement was completed in partnership with BRLT in 2024 before Danny’s passing.
Nestled on Ambrose Creek northeast of Stevensville, the newly conserved 166-acre Bolin Ranch marks a corner piece of the family property that they have actively farmed since 1935, raising hay, grain (barley and wheat), cattle, horses, pigs, chickens and pastureland. The mix of irrigated pastures, native grasslands, forest patches, woody draws, and riparian habitat along Ambrose Creek serves as excellent habitat for an abundance of wildlife, including winter elk range, moose, deer, golden eagle, great blue heron, and monarch butterfly.
Marlene reflects on the decision to conserve the remaining portion of their family ranch.
“As I have watched since the passing of my parents and the subsequent division and sale of much of this awesome place I’ve called home for 60+ years, I had no doubt as to what I needed to do. It’s these easements that arise from something deep within a landowner’s heart. It was my desire to preserve the history of my family’s generations and protect the land God has entrusted to us that drove me to want the same for the land I have inherited. So those that come after me can still know what it is like to grow up and live the best life there is… and that’s country living.”
Thanks to the Bolin family and our community’s support of Bitterroot conservation, future generations will still get the opportunity to experience a life made working the land.
To learn more about the Ravalli County Open Lands Program, visit the Ravalli County website.
Photos courtesy of the Bolin family and BRLT
Ivan Roy Jr.
