by Michael Howell
Recently the Ravalli County Commissioners approved the use of funds from the county’s Open Lands Bond Program to help establish a Conservation Easement on the Ellison Ranch located north of Stevensville. The easement, designed to protect and preserve scenic open space, agricultural and historical values, as well as wildlife habitat and valuable water resources from future development, combines four existing parcels of land into a single 344-acre parcel that cannot be further divided in the future regardless of who owns the land. It is a unique easement in that it now serves as the key link in a chain of conservation easements covering over 7,500 acres in the Burnt Fork drainage, creating a wildlife corridor running from the flanks of the Sapphire Mountains through the Burnt Fork all the way to the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge and the Bitterroot River. It is one of the highest scoring easements in the history of the Open Land Board’s point rating system and stands as a prime example of how all the values of water, wildlife, agriculture, and history can intersect and co-exist on a protected piece of open land in perpetuity.
“This is a jewel of a project, “said Sharon Schroeder, a member of the Open Lands Board. “It is a total gem in the Burnt Fork conservation effort. It’s so visible and so well managed for agriculture.”
“This one is special,” said Open Lands Board member Dan Severson, “and it will be enjoyed by everyone for years and years and years.”
The conservation easement is being placed on the land by the Ellison Cattle Company and the trustees of the Jean Ellison Trust including Arlo and Jean Ellison’s children Sarah, Michael and Daniel. Dan Ellison, lead representative of the group, gave the county commissioners a glimpse into the history of the family ranch.
He said the family originally lived in the Florence area where they raised a couple of hundred head of Hereford cattle. When they bought the current property near Stevensville, they pushed the whole herd down the Eastside Highway. He said things were different back then. There wasn’t so much traffic on the road. They continued the cow/calf operation and raised lots of hay and corn for silage. But when the boys left for the military, they switched from raising cows and calves to running about 650 yearlings.
In 2012 when Arlo died, the ranch shifted from a family-run operation and began leasing the land to a neighboring family until 2018 when a five-year lease was made with the Sutherlin family. Ellison said the Sutherlin family are very conservation-oriented and have already placed a conservation easement on their own ranch between Stevensville and Corvallis. Just a couple of months ago, the Ellisons signed another five-year lease with the Sutherlins.
The water resources being protected under the easement are significant, including water rights from North Burnt Fork Creek and Mill Fork Creek as well as 790 shares from the Supply Ditch, a pond providing year-round aquatic habitat, and wetlands and riparian areas providing habitat for both terrestrial and aquatic wildlife species. A wide variety of wildlife are known to be supported on Ellison Ranch, including mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, bats, fox, sandhill cranes, Lewis’ woodpeckers, and pileated woodpeckers as well as species of concern such as great blue herons, bald eagles, western cutthroat trout and western toads.
A major portion of North Burnt Fork Creek that traverses the ranch was recently restored and protected by fencing the creek on both sides and planting trees and vegetation, creating a vibrant riparian area for wildlife and also serving as bank stabilization which enhances and preserves the water quality and the fish habitat. Watering spots and crossings were installed for the cattle to use. Ellison said it was a good example of how wildlife and cattle, conservation and agriculture can co-exist and thrive.
Situated as it is between the Town of Stevensville on its southern border and the Stevensville airport and gravel pit on its northwestern corner, if it were to be densely developed it would have served as a major plug at the bottom of the wildlife corridor that has been created by a great number of contiguous conservation easements down the Burnt Fork drainage, basically cutting it off from the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge and the Bitterroot River.
The property is also unique in terms of preserving open space and its associated scenic values. Bounded as it is by the Eastside Highway on its southern and eastern borders it provides magnificent views of the Bitterroot Mountains to the west. There are few conservation easements in the valley with such complete visibility from such a major roadway. The views are also visible from North Burnt Fork Road and Logan Lane.
Melissa O’Dell, Land Director of the Bitterroot Land Trust, the organization that helped negotiate and document the easement, noted that it achieves all the stated goals of the Ravalli County Open Lands Bond which was adopted in 2006 and recently renewed last year. It also furthers the goals of the Ravalli County Natural Resource Policy adopted in 2012.
O’Dell also noted that the easement was well leveraged, with about half the estimated value of $1,246,210 being funded by a $600,000 grant from the Natural Resource and Conservation Service Agricultural Lands Easement Program and an additional $302,210 landowner contribution with the $344,000 grant from the county’s Open Lands Bond Program capping it off.
Gavin Ricklefs, Executive Director of the Bitterroot Land Trust, called it “a home run project” and said he was “honored to have a chance to work on such a project.”