FEATURED PROJECTS

Important Wildlife Habitat Conserved along Good Creek

December 2009 - Longtime Olney residents Dick and Carol Nelson have donated a conservation easement on 301 acres of wetlands, riparian habitat, and forested land on their property northwest of Whitefish. The easement includes 1.5 miles of Good Creek, a tributary of the Stillwater River, and is surrounded by Flathead National Forest lands. The easement will limit development and significantly benefit an array of wildlife. Good Creek hosts westslope cutthroat trout, listed as a sensitive species by the U.S. Forest Service, and the surrounding land is prime habitat for numerous species, including bear, elk, moose, deer, mountain lion, beaver, coyote, and gray wolf.  Bald eagle, grouse, turkey, Canada geese, and many other species of birds also call the property home.

Dick, a retired television writer for well-known shows such as Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Falcon Crest, and Dynasty, has owned the property since 1969.  Carol and Dick live on an adjacent piece of land and have been full-time residents since 1988.

“I fell in love with this place the first time I saw it,” says Dick Nelson.  “We knew that we wanted to keep it in its natural state, and felt that a conservation easement would be the best way to accomplish that ideal.”  The Nelsons worked closely with Flathead Land Trust to craft an easement that met their needs as landowners while protecting the property from future development.

“A conservation easement keeps the property in private ownership and maintains traditional uses for the land.  The landowner continues to maintain the land as agreed upon in the easement and pays taxes on the property, but it cannot be subdivided or developed.  In the end, it’s really the community as a whole that benefits,” says Marilyn Wood, Executive Director of Flathead Land Trust.  “The Nelsons were such a pleasure to work with.  They’re a perfect example of the special love most Montanans have for the land.”

To read more about the Nelson property, read this article from the Daily Inter Lake.

To view other recent projects, click here.