On July 1 the Lewis and County Commission voted 3-0 to create a 30-day comment period on a proposed 3,122-acre conservation easement east of Helena in the Spokane Hills. In June, the proposed project had also received unanimous approval from the Lewis and Clark County Open Lands Citizen Advisory Council. After the 30-day comment period the Potter Ranch conservation easement will come back to the county commissioners for a final decision.

“I am bursting with joy,” says Mary Hollow, the Executive Director of the Prickly Pear Land Trust. “These projects take years and they are highly emotional for families to discuss things about their estate and about their land, especially when they are generational ranches like this.”