The partnership between the Montana land trust community and the Natural Resources Conservation Service – in concert with the Gallatin County Open Land Program and the Woosley Ranch – produced 2,100 acres of agricultural conservation last week. County commissioners approved additional funding for two conservation easements on Woosley Land & Livestock land, for a county open program funding total of $377,603 for the overall project. The easements also received NRCS ALE Program funding. “Both of (these properties) are spectacular. … They are just marvelous,” said Commissioner Don Seifert in a Bozeman Chronicle article. “I think this is an appropriate use of the (county) funds.” The new easements will add to large areas already under conservation easement in eastern Gallatin County and are near state trust lands, said Kathryn Kelly, the Greater Yellowstone Manager for the Montana Land Reliance, which works with the county’s open lands program. Adding to the protected land in the area will help preserve wildlife habitat and three tributaries of the Shields River.
