The Nature Conservancy in Montana, the NRCS, the Montana Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Program and – most importantly – the Hansen Family partnered to complete a 13,535-acre conservation easement in Beaverhead County that maintains ranch operations and conserves wildlife habitat. The Montana Standard and other newspapers showcased the project last week along with a Hansen family photo that includes TNC High Divide Headwaters Coordinator Jim Berkey (standing second from the right). “I’m fourth generation and I want my daughter to run the ranch some day and her kids and even if something happens and we can no longer do it, I want this to be a working ranch and stay the way it is,“ Eric Hansen, one of the ranch owners, said in the article. The Hansen Ranch is the largest private ownership in the Medicine Lodge Valley, south of Dillon, and plays host to wildlife, including the greater sage grouse, pronghorns, wolves, wolverines, elk, moose and mule deer. The project was funded in part by the NRCS ALE Program and the Montana Sage-Grouse Habitat Conservation Program.
