Tongue River Ranch Acquisition

Five million bucks may not buy you a lot of land on Flathead or Whitefish Lake these days, but it'll still get you a pretty nice spread in the eastern part of the state - 18,554 acres of the Tongue River Ranch, to be exact.  The acquisition of the ranch, which is located in Custer County about 15 miles southwest of Miles City, is the largest addition to state lands using the fledgling and sometimes controversial Land Banking program, which has just been re-authorized by the 2007 Legislature [see: Land Banking Update, this issue].

"This is an example of the success of our Land Banking Program," said Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Director Mary Sexton.  "In 2006 the state sold in excess of 9,000 acres of inaccessible state trust land throughout Custer County.  With this purchase, we were able to block up our ownership, provide additional acreage to the trust portfolio for revenue generation and allow potential for increased public access to adjacent and newly acquired state trust land tracts."

The land, which contains some six miles of Tongue River frontage, is a working cattle ranch with pasture and irrigated croplands, and comes complete with ranch houses, outbuildings, shops and water storage facilities.  And thanks to a rich complement of wildlife and habitat resources including pheasants, deer, antelope, coyotes, red fox, ducks and wild turkeys, Pheasants Forever pitched in to provide part of the funding to buy the ranch.  "It will provide current and future generations of Montanans access to hunt, fish, and enjoy the outdoors," said Pheasants Forever CEO Howard Vincent, who added the group was "pleased to help in the acquisition of the property."

"This is a terrific win-win situation" said Governor Brian Schweitzer, who, as chair of the Land Board, played a key role in saving the deal when it looked like it might fall through.  "Ranchland stays in ranching and new access is opened up in eastern Montana.  Add to that the increased revenue for Montana's school kids and everybody gets something."

Besides the conservation of critical riparian habitat, the gains for the public will include access to the ranch, although for the time being, that access is limited.  "This will be temporary," said Sexton of the limited access, "we need some time to take a good look at the opportunities on the ranch and what will be in the best interest of the state, the land, and the people of Montana."

While the ranch is now in public ownership, the rules governing how the public will be allowed to access its resources are still being developed.  DNRC is currently working with the local community, neighbors, and interested groups and organizations to develop and implement a comprehensive management and recreational access plan by June.  All the general state lands recreational use rules apply to the ranch and, as part of the new plan developed by DNRC and the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, there are some additional, ranch-specific rules:

• all users must sign in at access portals;
• travel on designated open roads only - no use allowed when wet enough to cause 3" ruts;
• a total ban on off-road motorized use, including using ATVs for wildlife viewing, game retrieval, and prairie dog hunting;
• walk-in use permitted from any parking area or designated open road;
• camping is permitted, but limited to one night, two days maximum and must be within 300 ft of a designated open road or parking area; no camping allowed near livestock water sources;
• no fires allowed at any time.

The full set of maps, recreation use rules, and applicable administrative closures, are available on-line at http://dnrc.mt.gov/.  Those wishing to access the ranch between now and June 1 are directed to contact the DNRC Eastern Land Office at 406-232-2034.

According to DNRC Director Sexton, after June 1st there will be additional signage in place that details public recreational usage: "We hope to have our plan and strategy in place to begin income generation as well as to provide the abundant recreational opportunities this ranch affords Montanans."

A map of the area can be found at http://dnrc.mt.gov/trust/land_banking/purchase/trrmap.pdf

Other information available at: http://dnrc.mt.gov/trust/land_banking/purchase/#trr