People Have to Live Somewhere

As near as I can tell from information I gathered on the internet, Montana leads all other states in nation in the number of acres under conservation easements.  At present, some 2,553,692 acres of Montana landscape are under such easements.  By comparison, Idaho has 293,860 acres under easement.  Alaska has 201,586 acres. Far away Maine holds 2,490,769 acres in easements.

In basic terms, these easements are voluntary legal agreements between landowners and either a government agency or a land trust that permanently limits land use and preserves the land for its conservation value.  Perhaps, more than anything, these easement provide tax incentives for landowners.   In Montana, most of the land has been protected from either becoming a part of own version of urban sprawl or to protect habitat for wildlife.

Montana started seeing substantial growth in both population and the number of land subdivisions for homes in the early 1990s.  In the first half of that decade, land trust agreements in the state also increased by over 60 percent.

Some Montanans resent this sort of thing.  Personally, I’m happy when a ranch somewhere near me is preserved as a ranch.  Ranches define Montana.  I’d rather drive past a ranch than a subdivision any day of the week.  And for those compelled to argue that “people have to live somewhere,” I can only rebut with, “yes, but they don’t have to live everywhere.”

-- Mitchell Hegman