The Montana Sage Grouse Oversight Team (MSGOT) approved state funding to purchase a 15,353 acre conservation easement on ranchlands in Beaverhead County. The Nature Conservancy in Montana has been working with the Hansen Livestock Company and MSGOT on the project since 2016, and this is the second conservation easement to receive final MSGOT approval. MSGOT voted 6-2 to use $952,500 of Montana Sage Grouse Conservation Program funds to purchase the easement, with additional funds coming from the NRCS ALE Program and the Hansen family. The state sage grouse program was created by Governor Bullock and the Montana Legislature in 2015 to conserve sage grouse habitat and populations, and to retain state management authority over the species.