Calvin & Guy Peterson (../images/guycal_news.jpg) Guy Peterson (../images/guy_press.jpg) The Nature Conservancy in Montana Press Releases Search All Press Releases Tana Kappel 406-388-7515; tkappel@tnc.org

Big Hole Ranch Covered Under Conservation Agreement

Wisdom, Montana — Around 2,600 acres of the Wisdom River Ranch in Montana’s majestic Big Hole Valley are now covered by a Nature Conservancy conservation easement.

Owners Arlene Winn, Dabra Carroll and Guy Peterson said they were motivated to protect their property from future subdivision. “Our main reason was to preserve the integrity of this place and this valley,” said Peterson, who lives on the ranch with his wife Joanie and sons Calvin and Jake.

“With this easement, we could keep this a working cattle ranch and keep it in the family,” said Winn. “Plus the easement provided a good source of cash to help our ranch operation.”

Peterson’s and Carroll’s great grandfather, Sam Peterson, homesteaded in the Big Hole Valley in the late 1800s. The family bought the current ranch in the mid-‘60s, and purchased more land in the valley in the ‘90s. They raise cattle and hay.

Two tributaries to the Big Hole River run through the ranch, including the newly restored Rock Creek. This ranch, along with 30 other area ranches covering more than 151,000 acres, are part of a major effort to improve the Big Hole fishery, home of the imperiled river-dwelling Arctic grayling.

These efforts by Guy Peterson and other ranchers are featured in an award-winning film called “Fish and Cow: Restoring the Big Hole Valley,” produced by Rick Smith and Geoff Stephens for the Conservancy. (View the film on-line at: nature.org/montana.)

On the Wisdom River Ranch, Peterson and a team of conservationists are implementing a streamside management plan that involves planting native willows and fencing to restore and stabilize stream banks. The plan is part of a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to improve grayling habitat.

“This restoration effort has definitely improved habitat for the fish,” said Peterson. “I’ve got to hand it to these agencies. Lots of ideas like this take years; this one got going in two. It has really surpassed my expectations.”

A limiting factor in restoring the Big Hole is funding for the restoration projects. The Conservancy, several government agencies and private foundations have funded some projects. But more funding is needed for some of the more expensive projects, things like installing fish ladders over diversions and fish screens to keep fish from being trapped in irrigation canals.

Peterson is hopeful that as more landowners sign conservation easements, that funders will take notice “that we’re serious about conserving what we have.”

The Conservancy’s Tim Swanson, who negotiated the conservation easement, agrees. Landowners who “step up and protect their properties from subdivision and restore the waterways in the Big Hole are part of one of the largest and most exciting conservation efforts in the country,” said Swanson.

“We’re grateful for their leadership in this impressive effort to protect Montana’s agricultural and wildlife heritage,” he added.

By donating more than two-thirds of the value of the easement, the ranch received significant tax benefits under the Pension Protection Act, which expires at the end of this year unless Congress extends it.

The Wisdom River Ranch conservation easement brings the total number of acres under easement in the valley to about 41,600 acres. 

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Note to editors: Photos are available. Photo credits: Rick Smith, Phlogiston Media

The Nature Conservancy is an international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The Conservancy’s Montana chapter, based in Helena, has seven community-based programs around the state. It has worked with landowners and other partners since 1979 to conserve almost 550,000 acres of land in Montana. For more information, visit Nature.org/Montana