Guarding the Future
On a warm spring evening, Colonel Kelly Traynham with the Montana Army National Guard visited Birdseye Ranch with his daughter, Annie, and a handful of Prickly Pear Land Trust staff. They watched a pair of curlews foraging in the grass and then hiked to a rise where they could see Fort Harrison. As Col. Traynham pointed out the Fort’s ammunition bunkers and training grounds, it was evident why Birdseye Ranch is an open space priority for the Army. “Open spaces around Fort Harrison protect us for today’s fight, as well as training the next generation of soldiers,” Col. Traynham said.
Birdseye Ranch is one of the last large tracts of native grasslands left in the Helena Valley. The 1,472-acre property neighbors thousands of acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and the state of Montana, plus protected lands owned by Prickly Pear Land Trust like Tenmile Creek Park.
When RV Ranch Company put the property up for sale in 2019, housing developers made offers. Fort Harrison didn’t welcome the prospect of 5-acre ranchettes and rural subdivisions. “We make a lot of noise, we create a lot of dust, and we’re training 24/7. If someone lived here, they’d hear machine guns firing all night long, and at some point, they’re going to call and ask why we’re flying over their house. That’s what we have to do to train,” Col. Traynham said.
In June, the Fort’s nightmare scenario was averted. Prickly Pear Land Trust acquired Birdseye Ranch with funding from the Army’s REPI program, the Lewis & Clark County Open Space Bond program, and the Montana Fish & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Birdseye Ranch is PPLT’s eighth REPI-funded project.
Now or Never
The Army’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program supports the Army’s mission to fight and win by protecting open space around military installations. The REPI program allows bases and other facilities to work with partners to conserve land critical to the Army’s ability to train. The Army can contribute funds to the partner’s purchase of easements or properties from willing landowners and support ongoing expenses like monitoring and land management.
The REPI program has partnered with Prickly Pear Land Trust to protect nearly 6,000 acres in Lewis & Clark and Broadwater counties. “The need to protect open space for agriculture and wildlife has never been greater,” says Mary Hollow, executive director of PPLT. “We see land use changes happening quickly. With the Army funding, we can accomplish critical conservation needs and improve the quality of life for many people, today and in the future.”
PPLT will manage the ranch for grazing, seasonal public access, and wildlife. The native grasslands provide key habitat for birds, pronghorn, deer, and the occasional elk and moose. A small herd of pronghorn fawn here in the spring. Black bears arrive in late summer to feast on ripe chokecherries. Elk move down Granite Creek and Cherry Creek in the winter. And a variety of bird species, including curlews, have been spotted at Birdseye year-round.
Board President Pam Bucy marvels that you can see so much wildlife and the state capitol from the same property. Pam grew up in Broadwater County, which is currently Montana’s fastest growing county. She knows from personal experience that family farms and ranches are very susceptible to subdividing because they can barely hold on, which is why land protection options make good neighbors of the military, agriculture, and conservation.
“Birdseye is good for the Fort. It’s good for the ag community. It’s good for Lewis and Clark County. This is good neighbor work all the way around,” Pam says.
Sarah Ryan is the Communications and Development Manager at PPLT.
