A handful of conservation easements and deed restrictions are incorporated in the Forest Service’s final iteration of the East Crazy Inspiration Divide Land Exchange.
By Amanda Eggert MONTANA FREE PRESS
The Custer Gallatin National Forest on Friday authorized a controversial land swap involving more than 15 square miles of land in two different south-central Montana mountain ranges.
With the decision, consultants hired by the Yellowstone Club to facilitate the exchange can officially begin the title transfer process, which the Forest Service estimates will be complete “in the near future.”
Under the multi-part agreement, the Forest Service will transfer 3,855 acres to landowners in the Crazy Mountains and Gallatin Range. In exchange, 6,110 acres of private land will become public land that the Forest Service will administer.
Custer Gallatin Forest Supervisor Matthew Jedra inherited the proposal from Mary Erickson, who retired from her 16-year post as the Custer Gallatin’s supervisor a year ago. In a cover letter about the decision, Jedra acknowledged the “longstanding controversy and complexity of this project,” which drew more than 1,000 comments over a 45-day period in 2022.
Jedra noted that some changes have been made to the deal since the agency issued its preliminary environmental assessment, including “mandatory protections such as conservation easements and deed restrictions for most parcels leaving the federal estate” and “additional protections in the form of right of first refusal.”
Another notable change is the Forest Service’s acquisition of a square-mile section of land along the southern end of the Crazies, which includes Smeller Lake. That parcel is valued at more than $1 million and is currently owned by Crazy Mountain Ranch, a property that was formerly owned by tobacco giant Altria. In 2021, a developer associated with the Yellowstone Club purchased Crazy Mountain Ranch, known locally as the Marlboro Ranch.
In addition to the Forest Service, the transaction involves five landowners in the Crazy Mountains and one in Madison County — the Yellowstone Club, a luxury ski resort and residential community that has long sought access to Eglise Peak to expand its expert ski terrain. The swap also includes components dealing with trails, trailheads, conservation easements, deed restrictions, and water, grazing and mineral rights.
The Forest Service’s decision to authorize the swap drew a mixed reception from groups in the conservation, recreation and public land space. Some expressed appreciation for the inclusion of conservation easements and deed restrictions to limit residential and industrial development. Others said they are “deeply disappointed” with the decision, arguing that some of the lower-elevation properties the Forest Service is trading into private ownership will become more vulnerable to development and that the recreating public will be excluded from more accessible and desirable portions of the range.
Several members of the Crazy Mountain Access Project, a group that the Yellowstone Club convened five years ago to shape and advocate for the swap, celebrated the Forest Service’s decision, describing it as a carefully considered compromise. By consolidating the Crazies’ checkerboard land — so-called because square-mile sections of private land are interspersed with public land — the swap will alleviate decades of thorny access disputes that have developed around old Forest Service trails that cross through private land swap advocates argued.
Wild Montana federal policy director Maddy Munson said in a statement that while she’s appreciative that the Forest Service included some development restrictions, her organization “remains concerned that the consolidation of land around the perimeter of the mountain range lacks sufficient long-term protections against private development that could permanently change the character of the range.”
John Sullivan with the Montana chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers took a sharper tone in his assessment of the decision.
“We are deeply disappointed that the Forest Service has caved to big money and their never-ending goal to lock the public out of public land,” he wrote in a text to Montana Free Press. “Despite overwhelming public opposition from everyday Montanans, the USFS bent the knee to the wealthy and rewarded the illegal actions of landowners who have for years sought private enclaves of extremely valuable public land.” Sullivan went on to criticize the process that led to the Forest Service’s consideration of the swap, arguing that it “would not have happened” without the influence of U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, who pressured the Forest Service to modify its access position to address landowner concerns, and “individuals involved in the Crazy Mountain Access project faking public support.”
Big Timber rancher and Crazy Mountain Access Project member Lorents Grosfield highlighted the proposal’s compromises and the collaborative process by which it was developed.
“Most of us involved in the land exchange proposal have been at the table hammering out a solution for years. While no one gets everything they wanted in collaboration, all were committed to the final goal of consolidating large swaths of public land, increasing public access, and respecting private property,” Grosfield said in an emailed statement. “I’m encouraged to see my neighbors in the Crazy Mountains and the Forest Service come together to solve a challenge as great as checkerboarded land.”
Erica Lighthiser, a member of Crazy Mountain Access Project who co-directs Park County Environmental Council, wrote to MTFP in an email that the exchange is a “meaningful step forward for conservation.”
“While we would have liked to see conservation easements to limit industrial, commercial and residential development on all lands leaving federal ownership, the Forest Service and local landowners listened to our concerns about the potential development risk and agreed to stronger deed restrictions,” Lighthiser said.
Yellowstone Club representative Mike DuCuennois said the exchange is “a huge step forward to secure permanent public access and further consolidate public lands in the Crazy Mountains,” a likely reference to a smaller swap the Forest Service authorized in 2021.
According to a Forest Service webpage devoted to the project, the agency is tentatively planning to implement the swap next month.
