A plump tabby cat lazily saunters through the living room 
in the old white farmhouse at Chesebro Ranch in Corvallis. Landowners Bruce and Joan Chesebro give credit to their ranch hand.
“Her name is ‘Kitty;’ she’s a good mouser. She misses one here and there, but she usually gets most.”
Bruce and Joan have lived on the ranch since 1971. It’s where they raised their three children, Annemarie, Eric, and Brian. Through all of it, they’ve always enjoyed the scenic beauty and wildlife. Today, a conservation easement placed on the 252-acre ranch ensures the property will remain intact for future decades, fusing together the property’s five individual parcels that are now forever protected from subdivision.
Situated just east of Corvallis on Willow Creek Road and Coal Pit Road, the iconic barn and farmhouse, open space agricultural lands, mountain views, and frequent wildlife that call the ranch home are visible and enjoyed by passerby heading to and from town or the nearby Soft Rock Recreation Area. The ranch is near already conserved lands in the Corvallis area.
Almost 15 years after their first meeting with BRLT, the family decided that it was the right time to conserve their property and began the conservation easement process.
“We wanted to preserve the open space aspects of the land for our kids and grandkids, the possibility of continued use of agricultural lands for ranching, and prevent high density subdivision which would destroy the open space and habitat values of the land,” Bruce and Joan said about why they wanted to protect what makes their land so special. “It’s hard to narrow down one favorite moment or aspect of the ranch; it’s been our whole life.”
Upon purchasing the ranch, the Chesebros were eager to try their hand in raising cattle after hearing friends share experiences from the ranching lifestyle. Without much farming experience, Bruce and Joan turned to their neighbor Quentin Brown who helped them learn.
“We learned how to ranch from Quentin and his kids during those early years. Cutting hay, irrigating, working with cows. They were good neighbors.” Bruce smiled and added, “We enjoyed all of the years we had cows.”
Today, the ranch is leased to a local rancher who runs cow-calf pairs and hays the pastures, keeping the land in active agricultural production.
In addition to its prime agricultural soils, the property also features a Ponderosa woodland, grasslands, wetlands, and sagebrush shrublands, as well as unique rock formations dating back to the Missoula Floods. The irrigated grassland pastures provide a mosaic of habitat types for wildlife including elk, mule deer, fox, badger, bear, ducks, great blue heron, Lewis’s woodpecker, and western toad.
This project was made possible with funding received by the Ravalli County Open Lands Bond Program, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Agricultural Conservation Easement Program-Agricultural Land Easement (ACEP-ALE), and landowner donation.
“We’ve had out of town visitors tell us ‘This is the best place I’ve ever been in my life’ as they sit and look out to the Bitterroot Mountains,” said Joan. “That’s just the kind of place it is.”
