Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) completed a conservation easement on the 884-acre Anderson Ranch support from Atira Conservation and other philanthropic partners. The Anderson family has a rich history of working and stewarding the land, which will be carried on in perpetuity now that a conservation easement is in place on the property. Rancher Bob Anderson’s grandfather purchased the property in the 1930s, and it has remained in his family ever since. Bob chose to complete a conservation easement on the property to “release his children and grandchildren from increasing outside pressures to subdivide and develop the land.” The conservation easement will enable the property to stay intact to carry on the multi-generational legacy of farming and ranching the property, and to benefit the local wildlife and rural character of the rapidly growing region.

The Andersons donated a substantial amount of property value to create the easement. This donation was matched by generous private philanthropy, and substantial funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) grant awarded in 2022 to the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Conservation Partnership, also led by GVLT. The Andersons’ ranch is directly adjacent to protected private land and U.S. Forest Service public lands, creating a mosaic of habitat utilized by a wide range of resident and migratory wildlife species, including elk, sandhill cranes, bears, pronghorn and a multitude of birds drawn to the 1.5 miles of Trail Creek that flow through the property. The ranch adds to a growing block of conserved properties in the Trail Creek area, and it lies near the 9,600-acre Paradise Valley Ranch, also conserved with GVLT. Together, these properties add tremendous ecological value to the Paradise Valley animals that rely on quality winter ranch and those that need room to roam.

• Property Cost: $1,710,000
• Atira Conservation Funding: $25,000