Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A . C O M 63 Robyn Erlenbush is a third- generation Montanan who lives in Bozeman. She owns ERA Land- mark Real Estate with offices in Bozeman, Big Sky, Livingston, and Ennis along with NAI Landmark Commercial, and Intermountain Property Management. robyn@eralandmark.com ated the fact that the value of their donated easement is considered a charitable donation which can provide income tax deductions. Also, the addition of an easement most likely will reduce the resale value of a property which assists with estate planning. Where? e National Conservation Easement Database (www.conservationeasement.us) compiles records from land trusts and private agencies around the nation. Very specific state statistics are available with data including type of landowner, purpose of easement, date of acquisition, and much more. By county in Montana, Flathead leads the way in number of easements with 189, followed by Missoula County with 184, Madison County with 163, Powell at 138, Gallatin at 135, and Park at 128. As for the number of acres involved, Madison County sets the pace at 304,289 with Sanders County weighing in next at 190,483 acres. Beaverhead, Lewis & Clark, Lincoln, Powell, and Teton Counties also contribute over 100,000 acres each. To give some recent examples from the Flathead area alone, the headlines for featured projects include the following: "Critical Habitat Preserved on North Shone of Flathead Lake," "$1 Million Grant Approved to Fund Conservation of Migra- tory Bird Habitat," and "Flathead Land Trust Protects Forested Land Along Flathead River." e scope is tremendous through- out our entire state. e Montana Association of Land Trusts (MALT) in Helena is another great resource for all things related to land conserva- tion. ere are currently 12 nonprofit land trust organizations that are members of MALT, all working toward the common goal of keeping Montana the best it can be. So how do the concepts of land conservation and open space break down in terms of acreage and other numbers? First, according to Wikipedia, Montana is ranked 4th in the nation by size of the state at 147,040 square miles, which translates to over 94 million acres. Also stated is that we are ranked 44th in population and 48th in population density. (Using 2010 census information, there were 6.8 people per square mile.) e Census Bureau estimates Montana's population as of July 1, 2014 at 1,023,579 with the note that we finally hit the one million mark approximately at the end of 2011. Protected land in Montana includes our two beautiful national parks and various federally recognized sites such as the Little Bighorn National Monument and National Bison Range. Approximately 31,300,000 acres (35% of Montana's total acre- age) is administered by federal or state agencies. We possess ten National Forests and twelve wilderness areas. Management of the land will be different for the six specific agencies which include Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Montana Depart- ment of Natural Resources and Conservation, or Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. ere are many examples of how communities pull together and vote "yes" for parks, trails, open space and the like. For in- stance, in November 2012 Bozeman voters approved a $15 Mil- lion/ 20 year bond for funding of Trails, Open Space, and Park projects while the $10 Million Open Space Bond was passed in the fall of 2000. Funds from these bonds have been spent on a variety of projects including a bicycle-pedestrian trail to the "M" and Drinking Horse Mountain trails, transforming the old Story Mill site into a 54-acre community park, extending Bozeman Ponds by nine acres, creating a multi-use 80 acre Sports Com- plex, and Bogert Park/Bozeman Creek reconstruction. is topic could continue on by breaking down geographi- cal areas, purpose of individual easements or government versus private land, but the main essence of what I hope you take away is that Montanans are so lucky to live in a state where people respect and protect our open space and unobstructed views for all to enjoy with an immense passion. The Fink Conservation Easement on the Madison River upstream of Headwaters State Park

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