Commissioners send bond program renewal to voters
Last Thursday, the Ravalli County Commissioners voted unanimously to place renewal of the Open Lands Bond Program on the November ballot, per request by the Ravalli County Right to Farm and Ranch Board.
Ravalli County voters approved the popular program in November 2006, providing $10 million to help local landowners voluntarily preserve prime agricultural lands, important waterways, and protect critical wildlife habitat.
“If you like some of the rural landscape we have left in this valley, then this is the program to ensure that some of it will remain,” says Alan Maki, chair of the Ravalli County Right to Farm and Ranch Board. “Our hope on the Right to Farm and Ranch Board is that citizens will recognize that we have the opportunity to build on the success of the 2006 Open Lands Bond with a renewal in 2022.”
To date, the Open Lands Program has committed approximately $7.5 million in funding to 38 different conservation projects throughout Ravalli County – ranging from family farms and ranches in Stevensville, Victor, Corvallis, Darby, and Sula, to a fishing access site on the West Fork, Skalkaho Bend and Steve Powell parks in Hamilton, and critical elk winter range throughout the valley. According to Maki, program funds are getting low, demand is high, and now is the time for the program to be renewed. Ravalli County Commissioners agreed it is the right time to ask voters to continue the popular program.
Since being passed by voters in 2006, the Open Lands Bond Program has served as a voluntary tool for landowners to conserve family land. Ravalli County landowners have responded, conserving over 10,300 acres of working farms and ranches, fish and wildlife habitat, and publicly accessible recreation land in the Bitterroot Valley. The program’s most recent project, the “Haywire Flats”
ranch in Stevensville, conserves 258 acres of Sapphire foothills that connect over 7 miles and 7,000 acres of contiguous landowner-driven conservation easements in the Burnt Fork neighborhood.
“We chose to conserve the land that has been in my family for more than 80 years for the benefit of our children and grandchildren,” says Carola Woolsey-Mielke, landowner of Haywire Flats. “It’s becoming harder and harder to make a living in agriculture in the Bitterroot Valley today. Without the Open Lands Program, the fate of this ranch and the future of the next generation of farmers and ranchers would be unknown.”
Under the program, landowners can receive funding for placing a conservation easement on their property and relinquishing their development rights. This ensures the property will stay intact and preserve agricultural land, wildlife habitat– including creeks and streams, and the open, scenic views for future generations to enjoy.
“Ravalli County is growing fast, and the Open Lands Program ensures that our land, water, and agricultural resources are here forever” says Dan Huls, County Commissioner. “This program is strategically designed to leverage our limited local dollars in the most effective way. Over the past 16 years, every $1 of Open Lands Program funds has been leveraged by $3 from other sources. Our community has shown that we share the desire to protect this special place for future generations, and the Open Lands Program has been the tool citizens have chosen to make that happen.”
To learn more, visit the Ravalli County website at: ravalli.us/181/Open-Lands-Board