Historic Trail Creek Ranch Conserved: 884 acres in Paradise Valley to remain forever open

Robert and Valerie Anderson have partnered with Northern Yellowstone Open Lands, a regional initiative of the Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT), to forever conserve their 884-acre historic family ranch, located southwest of Livingston in the Trail Creek area. The Andersons worked with Northern Yellowstone Open Lands to establish a voluntary land protection agreement, or “conservation easement,” ensuring the property will remain intact and available for agriculture for generations to come.

The Andersons’ goal was simple—to keep the farm and ranchland the same as it has been for the past 100 years.

Robert (Bob)’s ancestors, the Nesbits, arrived in the Paradise Valley in the 1870s after the Civil War. His grandfather purchased the property in the 1930s, and it has remained in Bob’s family ever since.

“This ranch has hardly changed at all since the late 1800s,” says Bob. “If you look at pictures, it looks the same.”

After Bob’s grandfather died in 1953, his mother inherited the ranch. Bob, a fourth-generation Park County rancher/farmer, later purchased the ranch from his mother in 1980 and has continued to serve as owner and operator for the past forty-five years.

“If you are in the ag business, you have to be dedicated,” says Bob. “It’s a hard life. Some people say you are missing out on a lot. But I don’t think I am missing out. It’s a choice I made knowing it would be tough, and I have put my fullest into it.”

The prime farmland soils and native rangeland on the property support grass hay and cattle production. Bob continues to farm the land and leases the grass.

“This country’s cattle country,” Bob continues. “We raise hay for cattle production. That’s what this country was made for. If you really want to keep land in ag, this is one way to do that.”

For many working farmers and ranchers, conservation easements can also help with generational transitions.

Bob explains, “This agreement releases our children and grandchildren from increasing outside pressures to subdivide and ensures the land will stay in one contiguous piece for the purpose of agriculture.”

Keeping the land intact and in production also benefits the community by protecting scenic open space, water quantity and quality in the Upper Yellowstone River watersheds, and critical wildlife habitat.

The Anderson’s ranch is directly adjacent to protected private and U.S. Forest Service public lands, creating a mosaic of habitat utilized by a wide range of resident and migratory wildlife species, including elk, sandhill cranes, bears, pronghorn, and a multitude of birds drawn to the 1.5 miles of Trail Creek that flows through the property.

“We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to partner with Bob and Val,” said Northern Yellowstone Open Land Project Manager Kelsie Huyser. “Working lands play a vital role in stewarding the rural character, local economy, and wild nature of this region.”

The Andersons donated a substantial amount of property value to create the easement. This donation was matched by funding from a U.S Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) grant awarded in 2022 to the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Conservation Partnership, led by GVLT, and by private philanthropy.

“It’s great to see these generational ranches, that have been in family ownership since before Montana was a state, being permanently conserved through working lands conservation easements,” said Justin Meissner, Montana NRCS Assistant State Conservationist for Easements and RCPP. “RCPP enables locally led coalitions to address landscape-scale conservation issues. This is especially true in the Paradise Valley and much of Montana, where development pressure has made the transition of working lands to the next generation increasingly difficult.”

The Anderson’s ranch is one of the first conservation easements to receive this grant funding.

Building on GVLT’s 30-year history serving Park County, which has included working with 21 families to conserve over 20,000 acres of agricultural lands, the Northern Yellowstone Open Lands initiative features dedicated staff and a Livingston-based office. While rooted in GVLT’s proven experience, the Northern Yellowstone team brings a renewed, place-based focus to conservation throughout the county.

For more information about Northern Yellowstone Open Lands and how to make a donation to support this work, please stop by the Livingston Office at 309 W. Park Street, contact Cole Herdman at (406) 823-3313, or visit our Northern Yellowstone Open Lands web pages.