In November 2006, voters approved a $10 million bond program through which Ravalli County would preserve open land via the purchase of conservation easements.
In that same election, Missoula County voters passed a similar $10 million measure. Since then, Missoula County has approved nine projects to protect 5,610 acres at a cost of $2.1 million.
“I’m not especially concerned about the health of the open lands program,” said Gavin Ricklefs, executive director of the Bitter Root Land Trust. “We have an initial one in the hopper, and conservation easements take a long time to consummate. We’ve got several more people who are very interested.”
The Bitter Root Land Trust is one of several organizations the county is likely to team with to preserve open lands. Ricklefs and Vanessa Morrell, rural and natural resource planner with the county’s planning department, said there are a number of different reasons for the slow start.
It took a year to put together an open lands board and set its rules and regulations. Conservation easements are complex and take time to put together. And issues raised by the countywide zoning project have added an extra layer of concern for many landowners.
“I do think the discussion about zoning and planning has made a lot of people who were initially very excited about open lands slow down about making any decision about their land,” Ricklefs said. “I don’t think you can wrap people’s attitude to zoning and planning too closely with the open lands program. I think the reason we’re not seeing a lot of projects come through recently is that an easement is a serious decision a landowner takes regarding his property, and they want to make it with all the information possible.”
Missoula County already had a program in place and has been working with landowners for years. That makes a difference.
“They had an open lands program in place, up and running,” Ricklefs said. “They had their board, their criteria in 2006. We were starting from scratch. … There’s a problem (here) of who wants to be the first to jump in. I think we’ll see some projects, and they will build the confidence of other landowners, many of whom we are talking to now.”
Joel Gallob can be reached at jgallob@ravallirepublic.com .
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