New easement south of Kalispell to benefit migratory birds, waterfowl

By KIANNA GARDNER
Daily Inter Lake | March 23, 2021

The Flathead Land Trust recently secured a 36-acre conservation easement southeast of Kalispell that is considered vital to a host of migratory birds in the area.

The parcel is owned by Bob Danford, and includes 15 acres of Reed’s Slough and rich farmland that sits adjacent to the area.

The slough is located near the intersection of North Somers Road and Manning Road and is surrounded by approximately 1,300 acres of private lands that also hold easements, including Wiley Slough, a 200-acre wetland.

A fourth-generation descendant of a family that settled along Wiley Slough, known also as Weaver Slough, donated a sizable easement to the Land Trust last spring. It included roughly 930 feet of the Wiley Slough shoreline.

The new Reed Slough easement is the latest addition to a network of parcels the Flathead Land Trust and other partners have worked to conserve along the portion of the Flathead River that winds through south Kalispell before feeding into the pristine Flathead Lake.

According to a news release from the Flathead Land Trust, an organization dedicated to protecting Northwest Montana’s land and water legacy, the area’s wetlands are frequented by more than 100 species of birds and thousands of migrating waterfowl, including tundra swans, snow geese, northern pintail, mallard and American wigeon.

A tagged snow goose that migrated all the way from Wrangel Island in Russia was observed on the Danford property last spring, the release noted. The bird traveled 2,562 miles to get there.

“The conservation easement on the Danford property keeps the land in private ownership managed by the landowner but limits residential subdivision and commercial uses of the property and ensures the rich farmland and migratory bird habitat are protected in perpetuity,” the news release stated.

Danford received funding for keeping the land intact in the future with a conservation easement. Most of the funding was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service North American Wetland Conservation Act, a program that protects migratory bird habitat and wetlands to ensure sustainable populations of waterfowl and other wetland-dependent species in North America.

Other funding for the project stemmed from the Cinnabar Foundation, Flathead River to Lake Initiative, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wildlife Mitigation Program, Flathead Audubon and Flathead Wildlife. The exact price of the project was not disclosed.

A bike and bird event to celebrate and see this new conservation project and other conservation projects in the lower Flathead Valley has been planned for Saturday, May 15. Contact Laura Katzman with Flathead Land Trust at lkatzman@flatheadlandtrust.org for more information and to sign up for the event.

Daily Inter Lake

Letter to the editor

December 13, 2022

Septage facility

I attended the second meeting for the county regional septage facility after finishing my 12-hour shift. This was no attack on Flathead County Commissioner Brad Abell. This was simply him not understanding the passion the local neighborhood has for this land and their homes.

Many of the neighbors expressed to me they couldn’t even be in the room because they were afraid they couldn’t control their reactions. I didn’t understand that until looking at the commissioners only to realize one taking a siesta, and my blood boiled along with several of my neighbors. His excuse? Sleep apnea.

Try rebuilding two homes over 22 years, putting absolutely everything you can into it, only to find out the county wants to put a septage facility across the street. The county taxpayers should know the proposal is to buy 36.1 acres with only 22 usable for $1.5 million. The proposed property would never appraise for this unless you compare it 50 acres next to the Majestic Valley Arena and right off U.S. 93. Which they did.

I also want to mention in the diagram from the engineers, part of the septage facility is constructed in the 500 year floodplain.

— Jason Mahlen, Lower Valley

Daily Inter Lake

Conservation initiative marks two decades of protecting critical lands

By KATE HESTON

Daily Inter Lake | November 29, 2022 12:00 AM

Twenty-three years ago, Constanza von der Pahlen worried about the longevity of the Flathead Valley.

The 1990s were a time of rampant development and growth in the valley, similar to today, and von der Pahlen knew that the land around the Flathead River and Flathead Lake was special — she saw a need to protect it.

Von der Pahlen, who at the time was the critical lands project leader for the Flathead Lakers, and other conservationists put together a scientific report pointing to the landscape’s high biological value and one where the natural resources were being threatened, bringing people together for the purpose of conserving lands around the lake and river.

“Credibly critical lands,” von der Pahlen calls them.

The process took three years. Out of this, the Flathead River to Lake Initiative was born.

The conservation partners found that there were essential resources from Columbia Falls to Flathead Lake, including fantastic riparian cottonwoods and a dynamic river system. While riparian areas and wetlands make up 3% to 4% of the landscape in Montana, over 75% of Montana wildlife is dependent on those lands, according to the nonprofit Flathead Lakers that aims to protect the quality of the Flathead watershed.

“There is just phenomenal wildlife still by us: a grizzly bear corridor, productive farm soil. And on top of that, no one was doing anything to conserve it,” von der Pahlen told the Inter Lake.

Now, the initiative is marking two decades of successfully protecting 12,000 acres of critical lands along the river and lake while still looking to increase that acreage.

The initiative provides conservation, restoration, and financial incentives to private landowners along the mainstem of the Flathead River to the north shore of the Flathead Lake who put their lands under conservation.

Some of the many partners involved in the collaborative effort include the Flathead Land Trust, the Flathead Audubon Society and the Flathead Lakers. The groups work to conserve and restore the river and lake to support water quality, scenic and recreation values, fish and wildlife and farmland.

The initiative provides incentives and options for interested landowners to encourage them to protect their land through conservation easements, or agreements between landowners and a land trust partner that will limit, if not prohibit, development and uses of the land in the future.

Through land assessments, the partners identify lands that are important to conserve within the river to lake geographic area. Then a partner directly reaches out to the landowner.

From there, if the owner is interested, the initiative begins a series of conversations to understand the landowner’s goals for the long term and for the initiative to showcase the importance of conserving the land.

“It may take a little bit of time, sometimes a lot of time,” said Paul Travis, the executive director of the Flathead Land Trust.

The conversation and follow up process can sometimes last nearly a decade.

There are two ways to do conservation easements: through purchase or donation. The bulk of easements are donated by landowners, which is when they donate the development rights to the land, ensuring conservation for the future. In essence, landowners can control what happens to the critical land when they are gone.

Donated conservation easements go through an appraisal process. When landowners donate, that value is deductible from their federal income tax.

Purchased conservation easements are often used on land with convincing reasons for conservation, such as high end soils, sizable farm land, and land essential to keeping the water clean. The initiative applies for funding to purchase the easement, ultimately paying the owners in cash. Landowners will typically close what is called a bargain sale, where 50% to 75% of the easement is purchased and the rest is donated.

Conservation easements do not automatically mean that the land is publicly accessible; the easement itself does not mention access. Whether or not the public can access it is up to the landowner.

ONE LANDOWNER who has participated in the initiative is Liz Seabaugh, who lives in the Lower Valley south of Kalispell on acres of farmland, near the river bank of Stillwater River.

Her children, and now her grandchildren, grew up exploring the riparian acreage and country home, now where the entire family gathers to celebrate Thanksgiving each year. Three generations of Seabaughs, each able to enjoy the critical lands below their feet.

The Seaboughs moved to the valley in 1970. Liz and her late husband, Rusby, placed conservation easements on two of their properties in 2004 near Weaver Slough and Foys Bend, two of the first large-scale conservation projects completed by the River to Lake partners. They adored the land, and as a result, wanted to preserve it.

Rusby was a “planting fool,” Liz says while sitting in her home. Large windows frame the back of the house, overlooking a field lightly covered with snow, trees in the distance; a river bank only a few hundred yards to the left.

Conservation was always a part of their lives. Rusby planted thousands of trees, including numerous fruit trees. An apple tree in the backyard, for example, turns into a sneaky treat for bears every now and then, Liz said.

Rusby was a urology surgeon, for a while the only one in the valley. He was always on call, so the land gave him something to do while he waited. When he was home, he was often outside.

“It is comforting to know that while our valley changes daily, some special places will remain untouched and preserved,” Liz said.

A common sentiment among Montanans is that special connection to the land. As those feelings of appreciation for the land grow, so does the desire to protect them.

“We need to start maintaining more farmland,” said Bruce Louden, a farmer who lives down the road from the Seabaughs.

Bruce and his wife Janice placed more than 1,000 acres of riverfront farmland into a conservation easement in 2010 — another success story for the River to Lake Initiative.

Bruce’s cousin, Ben Louden, also has a conservation easement on his land.

The Louden family has been farming that land for over 50 years. A conservation easement gave them the assurance that would continue.

The easement not only protects hundreds of acres of farmland, but it also protects 4 miles of the river from development. While it took some convincing, Bruce said, it is a “real good thing for people to think about if they want to support the area.”

HOPING FOR more success stories, like the Seabaughs and the Loudens, as the initiative enters into its third decade of conservation work, the initiative has begun fundraising for its next project. It’s aiming to place the Owen Sowerwine Natural Area under conservation.

The Flathead Land Trust is seeking to purchase an easement on the 442 acres in a complex section of the Flathead River. The Montana Audubon Society, Flathead County Audubon Society and Flathead County have leased the area as a natural area.

Owen Sowerwine is state owned school trust land, managed by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, to generate income for K-12 schools in Montana. A purchased conservation easement would protect the property’s habitat, ensure public access, and provide revenue for Montana schools.

Following a public scoping process, the easement would need to be approved by the State Land Board.

Since the land is state owned, there is no federal grant program available to purchase an easement. That means that Owen Sowerwine’s conservation will need to be completed by donation, a feat the initiative has done before, for example with the Danford Property in 2020.

The Flathead Land Trust this month held a fundraiser for the project with a Flathead River in Paint event at Montana Modern Fine Art, featuring paintings by 14 different artists. The collection of paintings will be auctioned off online at https://tinyurl.com/msdd75e4 until Dec. 7, and all proceeds will go directly to the easement.

The fundraiser is not only propelling the initiative forward into the future, but is also grounding the initiative in what has already been accomplished as the paintings feature conserved land along the Flathead River, capturing a multitude of ecosystems.

The natural area named after the late Owen Sowerwine of Kalispell, he was a New Jersey native who moved his family to Kalispell because of his love for the environment.

After Owen’s death in 1975, his son, David, became the family overseer for the farm, and in 1988 the family donated nearly 160 acres of land to the Flathead Land Trust — an early start to the conservation work the River to Lake Initiative would begin a little over a decade later.

“My father’s vision for the valley was to do everything we could, as early on as we could, to conserve the valley,” David said. “How wonderful that somebody at some time preserved the land for the future.”

Daily Inter Lake

An Ill-Conceived Septage Facility

Many alternate and better located properties exist for this ill-conceived project

In this new 2023 year, our Flathead County commissioners remain as eager as ever to spend taxpayer money for expansion of their property empire rather than for the benefit of Flathead County residents. The commissioners remain steadfast in their desire to construct an industrial “septage facility” in a pristine agricultural and residential area in the Lower Valley, on Wiley Dike Road. The proposed facility has no comprehensive planning to support it. The facility supposedly would recycle waste from septic tanks and porta-potties throughout the entire Flathead County. The disposal of this waste historically has been the responsibility of the septic pumpers. The commissioners already have committed the county taxpayers to purchase a land parcel of about 36 acres on Wiley Dike Road for $1.5 million. The proposed project is a pig in a poke with unknown long-term maintenance and operating costs.

The only public presentation for this proposed taxpayer project occurred on Dec. 1, 2022. At that time, the contracted engineer responded to many questions asked by the public. The commissioners provided no responses to questions. Major unresolved issues remain.

On Dec. 1, the engineer stated that the property size required for such a facility is 30 to 50 acres. The Wiley Dike Road land the County Commissioners are committed to purchase is approximately 36 acres with less than 23 acres as usable land. The engineer stated that the commissioners have yet to decide whether the facility would be operated by a private contractor, a special district, or the County itself. The engineer stated that sewage liquid from the septic waste hauled to the facility would need to be transported a couple miles to the Lakeside Water and Sewer District treatment facility. 

The county proposes to construct a pipeline for the sewage liquid under the dirt to the Lakeside treatment facility. This pipeline would be subject to deterioration and leaking into the fragile wetlands nearby. These additional expenses are not identified as costs for the construction and ongoing maintenance of the septage facility. The engineer acknowledged the significant increase in heavy duty truck traffic on the dirt roads to and from the septage facility. Substantial damage to the county’s dirt roads would occur. Ultimately, the county’s taxpayers will bear the burden of the unknown costs for this pig in a poke project. Many alternate and better located properties exist for this ill-conceived project, including the unused county-owned land at Cemetery Road, which formerly was a quarry.

Dean A. Robbins
Lakeside

Flathead Beacon

Robbins Conservation Easement along Wileys Slough Completed

April 7, 2020 –  Flathead Land Trust closed on a 26-acre conservation easement last week on Wileys Slough in the lower valley which was generously donated by Dean Robbins. The agricultural property contains 982 feet of shoreline along Wileys Slough and is adjacent to and contiguous with 1,235 acres of private land already conserved at Wileys Slough. It is also adjacent to the Lakeside Water and Sewer District agricultural properties. Conserving this property ensures that its agricultural open space, 100-year floodplain and important riparian vegetation along Wileys Slough will be protected in perpetuity.

Dean’s connection with and love for his property has deep roots. Dean’s great-grandfather, Christian Hvila, found his way to the Flathead Valley in 1883 after emigrating from Norway to the U.S. in 1867 at the age of 20 years old. Christian became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1878 under the Anglicized name of Christian Hvila Wiley and was working in the mine industry of Butte, Montana in 1880 when he eventually traveled to the Flathead Valley to establish a homestead claim in the Montana Territory. Christian married Belle Swanson in May 1884 and they established their home on the 160-acre homestead claimed by Christian at Wileys Slough. The Wileys were some of the earliest permanent settlers in the lower Flathead Valley. Accordingly, both Wiley Dike Road and Wileys Slough are named for them.

Christian and Belle ultimately had eight children on the homestead. John Wiley, the fifth child born in 1894, was Dean’s maternal grandfather. The Wiley family farmed the 160 acres of homestead land while raising livestock. The income from these efforts was supplemented during the early years by wages earned by Christian from working for the Butte mines during winters.

John Wiley and his wife lived on and farmed the homestead land for approximately four years. During that time, their daughter Dorothy (Dean’s mother) was born. Then Andrew Wiley, the youngest Wiley child and Dean’s great uncle, acquired the 160 acres of homestead land from his siblings after their widowed mother died. Andrew lived on the homestead land all his life until he died in 1980. He farmed the land with his older brother Jim until he married Frances in 1950. Andrew and Frances sold portions of the land over time.

Robert and Dorothy Robbins, Dean’s parents, bought two and a half acres of the property, in 1984. From 1984-2007, Robert and Dorothy spent summers at their property. Dean spent time during these summers on the property with his parents, but became the full property owner of the 26-acre easement property after purchasing the land from his great aunt Frances before she passed away in 2009 and purchasing his parents’ land after his mother passed away in 2010.

On the property are several historic structures. There are portions of the original homestead cabin built in 1884 and a log horse barn built in the 1890s. A portion of the current historic farmhouse was built in 1899 and served as a one room school house known as the Brocken School until the local school district ceased to use the facility. The Brocken School served as the second public school in the Montana Territory north of Missoula. The other portion of the current historic farmhouse was built in 1907. During that same year, a two story water tank house was built to store water pumped by windmill from a nearby well and provide gravity-powered running water for the farmhouse kitchen. Also, a large red machine shed on the property was built in 1911. Finally, a one-car garage was built by John Wiley and his older brother Jim in 1917 for a car they purchased.

The property has not only important conservation value, but also great local history. Thank you, Dean, for working with us to help conserve this important area of Lower Valley!

Flathead Land Trust