Conservancy saves Beaverhead-Deerlodge inholding from development
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) Some property near a Clark Fork River tributary is now part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, thanks to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. But any cuts to the fund could hinder future efforts.
Three years ago, the fate of a 131-acre property in the foothills of the Flint Creek Range about 12 miles west of Racetrack was uncertain. The owners were primed to sell and had listed the “Upper Racetrack Retreat” for a relatively low $1,250,00 since it had no buildings and the closest access to electricity was more than 3 miles away.
But it was an inholding of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, and its woods, grassy slopes and willow-lined riparian areas still blended easily with the surrounding public land. Losing it to a developer would have ruined the property’s natural conditions, especially along about a mile of Racetrack Creek, said Allen Law, Western Rivers Conservancy project manager.
“What I was looking at was that it was totally surrounded by forest lands, and it was a chance to not only protect that 130 acres but also the surrounding landscape.,” Law said.
“It was listed for sale on the open market with Fay Ranches, which is a really big ranch brokerage. We knew it was at a really high degree of risk, because it was listed and anybody could have bought it and developed it.”
The Western Rivers Conservancy didn’t want that to happen, nor did the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. While the latter couldn’t do anything about it, the former could. So in June 2023, the Conservancy bought the property.
“When I first looked at the property both with the realtor and the Beaverhead, we already had a relationship with (the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest) from working on some upper Big Hole (Valley) projects, so it was easy to keep the partnership going,” Law said.
In the Big Hole Valley, the Western Rivers Conservancy recently saved two properties from development in order to preserve the adjacent streams for arctic grayling: the 200-acre Eagle Rock Ranch along the Wise River and the 317-acre Clemow Cow Camp along Cox and Old Tim creeks. The two properties were transferred to the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in 2023 after Law received funding from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund annually collects $900 million in royalty payments from offshore oil and gas drilling to fund various conservation and park land purchases. The fund was created by Congress in 1964 but suffered from insufficient funding until 2020, when the Great American Outdoors Act mandated that LWCF receive the full $900 million each year.
Unloading the two Big Hole Valley properties allowed Law to focus on the Racetrack property, which was safe for the time being. But like every other conservancy, Western Rivers wasn’t planning on owning the land forever. So Law applied for another LWCF grant in 2023 but didn’t make the cut because the Racetrack property was relatively small compared to other projects across the nation that were applying for grants.
“But it was so important to the Beaverhead-Deerlodge and to the region that they rallied funds that they had left over from past years and put them together to buy the property basically on the same timeline as we would have had if we would have been awarded (a grant)” Law said. “We were very glad that the funds were available.”
So the Upper Racetrack Retreat, also dubbed the Oxbows, is now part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest and a mile of Racetrack Creek, home to bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout, will continue to wind untouched through willows and wetlands. The property also augments a migration corridor used by elk, moose, mule deer and potentially grizzly bears to move between the Crown of the Continent and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Law said he’s looking for other opportunities for projects in Montana. One look at the brokerages shows there are plenty of ranches for sale. But it might be harder for Law to find money to pay for the next one, because the Trump administration has been trying to cut the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Even though there’s a Congressional mandate to fully fund the LWCF, President Trump in his fiscal year 2026 budget proposed slashing LWCF funding by 43%, diverting $387 million away from conservation and public access. But the House Appropriations Committee bill that was sent to Trump’s desk last week allocates the full $900 million to the LWCF, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, although it includes a number of new requirements.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.