Aerial of wetlands at the Front Range, Rocky Mountain Front, Montana/Photo: Todd Kaplan

Where Montana’s dramatic peaks give way to the Northern Great Plains, the Rocky Mountain Front forms a landscape unlike any other in America. The Front represents some of the nation’s rarest wildlife habitat – where grizzly bears still roam freely from the mountains to the plains, as they have for centuries.

Our changing climate is warming temperatures in the region, creating shifts in wildlife habitat and migratory routes. For example, grizzly bears are ranging farther north than ever before. While the habitat needs of wildlife shifts, increased demand for recreational property and vacation homes threatens this natural area. More than three million acres have been subdivided over the past 15 years. New homes and roads disrupt wildlife migration routes, and cut off access to breeding grounds, food and safe haven.

For generations, family ranchers have owned large swaths of the land in this region, enabling wildlife to freely migrate. But as financially-strapped ranchers sell off their land, this landscape gets fragmented.

The Conservation Fund, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the state of Montana, launched an unprecedented 5-year effort to protect 220,000 acres of wildlife habitat along the Rocky Mountain Front while maintaining the region’s traditional ranching heritage. The Richard King Mellon Foundation has provided key support.

In its first year, the Rocky Mountain Front Initiative has moved forward with four projects, protecting 21,274 acres of critical migratory corridors for grizzly bears and a wide variety of other species that depend on the Front’s rich ecosystem.

 Completed Projects

Crawford Ranch - 12,129 acres

In Teton County, this cattle ranch has been owned by the Crawford family since 1953.

Goss Ranch – 1,126 acres

The Initiative partnership protected over 1,126 acres of coniferous and aspen forestland and grasslands through a conservation easement over the Goss Ranch. This property provides essential connectivity for grizzly bears migrating between the mountains and the plains and is rich with aspen vegetation critical for grizzly bear foraging and travel. Additionally, the Goss Ranch abuts National Forest lands and the project has served as an instrumental catalyst for further conservation projects with adjacent landowners and agency partners.

Deep Creek Grazing Association ranch – 11,365 acres

An expansive native grasslands property of over 11,365 acres was protected in Teton County, Montana along the Front. Demand for land along the Front is high and very few ranches the size of the Hirschfield property still exist. A conservation easement over this property will help prevent subdivision and crop conversion, forces that would undermine habitat quality for migrating species.

The ranch straddles or fronts nearly 5 ¾ miles of Deep Creek, which flows from the mountains providing a rich food source, travel corridor and security habitat for grizzly bears. Connectivity between this ranch and other protected private and public lands is largely unfragmented, allowing for unimpeded seasonal migration for wide-ranging wildlife species such as grizzly bears, mule deer, and elk. The native grasslands of the property provide nesting habitat for three grassland bird species of high concern: long-billed curlew, Sprague’s pipit, and McCown’s longspur.

Gollehon Ranch – 5,943 acres

Near to the Hirschfield Ranch property, the Gollehon Ranch spans 5,943 intact acres of native fescue grasslands along the Front and ranks among the highest quality grizzly bear habitat on the Front. The ranch straddles over 3 ½ miles of Willow Creek, which flows down from the mountains and from The Nature Conservancy’s Pine Butte Swamp Preserve, serving as an ideal migratory corridor for grizzly bears, other wildlife and songbirds. The Gollehon Ranch is ranked as top priority conservation land due to its exceptional grizzly bear habitat, native grasslands, and proximity and linkage to other protected lands.

Rice Ranch – 2,840 acres

The Rice Ranch is part of a large grassland that connects protected lands on the Teton River with those on Willow Creek. Protection of this ranch is an important piece of the puzzle for linking nearby easement projects. The ranchland connects several different habitat areas with protected private and public lands, creating an unfragmented system that allows for unimpeded seasonal migration for wide-ranging wildlife species such as grizzly bears, mule deer, and elk. Furthermore, completion of the Rice Ranch property was essential to the completion of the nearby Gollehon Ranch project, one of the highest value grizzly habitat conservation areas in the region.