Ranch protects acreage

By Nick Gevock - 08/02/2008

A conservation group and the Forest Service teamed up to complete a conservation easement on the Sun Ranch south of Cameron that bars development on 11,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat.

The Trust for Public Land announced Friday that it has completed the deal with Roger Lang, Sun Ranch owner, for an easement on the property located on the east side of the Madison Valley.

The 19,000-acre ranch sits between the Madison Range and Madison River and is home to numerous species of wildlife, including thousands of elk, grizzly bears and moose.

“Being as large as it is really is a migration corridor for a lot of those animals,” said Kelly Ramirez, of Bozeman, trust spokeswoman. “Sun Ranch as a property probably is visited by every single creature that goes through the Yellowstone ecosystem.” Lang protected 6,800 acres of the ranch in 2002 and said at the time he planned to put almost all of it under easement over time. This latest easement bars development on 95 percent of the ranch.

Under the deal, the trust bought the easement and in turn sold it to the Forest Service, which will hold it in perpetuity. Lang received $5.5 million for the easement, which included $4.5 million in federal funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The remaining $1 million came from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which was funded by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The value of the development rights on the property was estimated at $23 million.

Asked about the gap, Lang told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday, “You can’t take your money with you when you leave this planet. At some point, you realize there is a greater good.” Lang, who made his wealth in the Silicon Valley, bought the Sun Ranch from actor Steven Seagal 10 years ago, according to the Associated Press.

Donations such as Lang’s are key to making these large scale easements work, Ramirez said.

“He donated $17.5 million to the public,” she said. “We’re very lucky with the landowners we work with that they are willing to donate a portion of that value.” Adam DeFanti, a spokesman for the Sun Ranch Group, said the deal is part of Lang’s effort to protect one of the most significant private ranches for wildlife in southwest Montana from development. DeFanti said Sun Ranch is trying a new approach to protect large landscapes by selling a few select properties for a premium price to help pay for conservation and protecting the rest.

On the Sun Ranch, that model calls for 10 lots ranging from 20 to 160 acres that were chosen to avoid the key wildlife areas on the property. Those parcels are on the market for $5 million to $8 million.

Owners of them have covenants laying out where they can build, DeFanti said. That means in total more than 99 percent of the ranch will remain open for wildlife.

“We may have found a solution to compete with private developers,” he said. “If someone bought the Sun, they’d want to put thousands of homes on that piece of property.” — Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com