Local Landowners Use Conservation Easements to Safeguard Riverfront Properties Near Whitefish

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, the nonprofit Flathead Land Trust worked with landowners to place conservation easements on two riverfront properties near Whitefish, furnishing permanent protections on a pair of parcels totaling 66 acres.

Completion of the two conservation easements has helped the nonprofit land trust match the pace of conservation with development pressures in a rapidly growing region, placing seven properties under conservation easement in 2024, amounting to 1,217.4 acres.

The most recent community-based land conservation projects involved Sally Ericsson and Tom Garwin, who placed their 36 acres along the Stillwater River under conservation easement, followed by Mark Schmidt, who conserved his 30-acre parcel of farmland along the Whitefish River.

Both properties protect prime agricultural lands and riparian habitats, providing wildlife habitat and connectivity, according to a press release from the Flathead Land Trust.

For Ericsson and Garwin, who began laying plans to protect their property along the Stillwater River more than a decade ago, even before they owned it, the conservation easement was a long time coming. Ericsson worked on a gamut of Pacific Northwest conservation and environmental issues in the White House for the Clinton and Obama administrations, while Garwin served as director of impact planning and improvement for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the mid-2000s, later working for U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C.

When they decided to relocate to northwest Montana, they selected the parcel on the edge of the Stillwater River west of Whitefish. Ericsson and Garwin planned their eco-conscious home on the property with conservation and sustainability in mind. Completed in 2015, the residence blends into the landscape, winning an award for craftsmanship in the American Institute of Architecture Seattle 2020 Design Awards competition.

Still, the property was not without its challenges.

Prior to the mid-1990s, Twin Bridges Road followed the Stillwater River through the property, but a series of landslides, or slumps, along the riverbank damaged the road and temporarily blocked the river. Flathead County eventually relocated the roadbed, which now follows the southern boundary of the couple’s property. Local contractors helped restore slumped areas on the property, replanting native vegetation to stabilize the soil and revitalize the riparian ecosystem, according to the Flathead Land Trust.

The easement protects wildlife habitat and winter range for grizzly bear, elk, deer, birds, and other wildlife, while a riparian forest along a quarter mile of the Stillwater River offers a critical travel corridor for wildlife, connecting to 255 acres of state land and eventually linking to thousands of acres of public land. The easement also protects agricultural land for hay production. Over 80% of the property contains soils classified as “prime farmland” by the Natural Resource Conservation Service, according to the Flathead Land Trust.

“When we purchased our land in 2013, we knew we were buying riparian habitat corridor and we now really understand its importance to the wildlife in the Valley, to the water quality in the Stillwater River and to preserve farmland,” according to a prepared statement from Ericsson and Garwin. “We are delighted to permanently conserve our property in partnership with the amazing Flathead Land Trust.”

For decades, Mark Schmidt and his team of mules hayed his agricultural fields along the Whitefish River, but the property had a long history as farmland even before the Schmidt family acquired it. The conservation easement on his 30-acre parcel southeast of Whitefish safeguards agriculturally important soils along with wildlife habitat along the Whitefish River. The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies over 70% of the conserved property as “prime farmland.”

“As a protected working farm, these critically important soils can continue to be cultivated without the threat of development,” according to the Flathead Land Trust’s press release.

“Encompassing a nearly quarter mile stretch of the Whitefish River just below the confluence with Haskill Creek and above the confluence with Walker Creek, the Schmidt property offers habitat and respite for wildlife moving along the river,” the release states. “Riparian, wetland and aquatic habitats, along with the agricultural fields, support a variety of mammals, birds and fish in a region of Whitefish that has experienced substantial development. “

Although Schmidt has retired his mules, two horses continue to graze the pastures while a neighbor uses modern machinery to hay the fields. While the methods have changed, the rich farming legacy of the property is preserved, and the fields will remain undeveloped in perpetuity. Wildlife will continue to find refuge, open space will persist and scenic views will endure by virtue of the Schmidt conservation easement.

“I just want to keep it how it is,” Schmidt said in a prepared statement

For more information, visit flatheadlandtrust.org.

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