Owner Peggy Dulany, who in 2005 donated an easement on 723 acres of the ranch, placed conservation easements on 6,330 acres in the Centennial Valley and 2,190 acres near Twin Bridges.

Dulany said she was motivated to do the easements because she wants to see the "land use in these areas stay in ranching."

The bulk of the ranch stretches across the north side of the remote Centennial Valley. "This is the last undeveloped valley in southwestern Montana," said Dulany. "I want to contribute to the effort to preserve this remote valley’s ranching history and rich wildlife habitat."

The J Bar L includes 18 winding miles of the Red Rock River and is bounded by conservation protected private properties and public land, including the 48,000-plus-acre Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.

One of the most biologically rich valleys in the West, the Centennial has the largest wetland complex in the Greater Yellowstone region, supporting 270 bird species including trumpeter swans and dense breeding populations of peregrine falcons and ferruginous hawks. The valley is also home to antelope, river otter, fox, coyote, badger, moose, elk, wolf and grizzly bear as well as two globally rare plant species.

The wild character of this high elevation valley has, until now, been preserved largely because of its remoteness. Winter access to the valley is limited and the ranchers – about 15 of whom control 90 percent of the private lands here – graze their cattle here mainly in the summers.

Dulany, a member of the Rockefeller family of New York, travels the world as the board chair of the Synergos Institute. Her work involves addressing poverty issues and facilitating relationships between communities in need and political and business leaders.

During the five or six months she spends on the ranch, this newcomer to ranching is learning about raising cattle from her ranching staff and her neighbors, mostly long-time multi-generational ranch families.

"The more I’ve learned about my neighbors, the more impressed I am," said Dulany. "No one cares more about this place than the ranchers here."

So far, the Conservancy, other conservation groups, area landowners and government agencies have used conservation easements to protect around 43,000 of the 100,000 acres of private land in the valley. The Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hold the bulk of the easements.

"Most of the landowners in the Centennial are committed to keeping the valley wide open and undeveloped which is good for agriculture and for wildlife," said Tim Swanson, who heads the Conservancy’s Southwest Montana program.

So too are county officials, said Swanson. "If housing developments were to occur here, county taxpayers would have to pay through the roof to provide services to this remote place," he said.

Many of the valley’s residents, including Dulany, are members of the Centennial Valley Association, which addresses land use concerns as well as weed control, road maintenance, recreational impacts, hunter-landowner conflicts and land stewardship issues.

Dulany has worked with the Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other partners to improve stock water on the ranch (which helps in the distribution of cattle). "There has been a marked improvement of grass cover and vigor since she purchased the property in 2000," said Nathan Korb, the Conservancy’s Southwest Montana Stewardship Director. 

Swanson, who negotiated the Dulany and other conservation easements in the valley, said, "We’re grateful that people like Peggy and many of her neighbors are so committed to protecting southwestern Montana’s agricultural and wildlife heritage."

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Note to editors: Photos are available at www.nature.org/montana/press. Photo credits: Red Rock "meanders – Tana Kappel/TNC; Peggy Dulany photo by Elaine Spicer.

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 around 555,000 acres of land in Montana. For more information, visit Nature.org/Montana

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.