Bitterroot National Forest completes land exchange with CB Ranch

Bitterroot National Forest completes land exchange with CB Ranch
The recently signed land exchange between the CB Ranch and the Bitterroot National Forest marked the conclusion of a long-sought, multi-phase land consolidation of former railroad land grants that created a checkerboard pattern of mixed ownership over 35 square miles in the Rye Creek area.

By Perry Backus in the Ravalli Republic

The effort to consolidate the checkerboard ownership of public and private land dates back into the 1990s when Darby Lumber Co. and the Bitterroot National Forest first entered into negotiations to purchase some of the railroad grant lands with Land and Water Conservation funding.

The first section in the headwaters of the Sleeping Child drainage was purchased in 1993.

Six years later, the remaining private lands almost became public.

In 1999, the agency entered into a purchase option with Darby Lumber Lands and the Trust for Public Lands to buy all the remaining 10,930 acres. Congress approved funding for the purchase in its fiscal year 2001 budget.

Before the deal could close, though, Darby Lumber filed for bankruptcy. Unable to wait for the federal funding to become available, Darby Lumber sold its holdings to Craig Barrett of Intel Corp. in 1999.

The next year, the fires of 2000 burned the majority of the lands.

Since then, Barrett’s CB Ranch has worked with the Trust, Forest Service and the state to block up the remaining sections.

In the recently signed agreement, CB Ranch exchanged 1,920 acres for 1,940 acres of Bitterroot National Forest system lands.

Bitterroot Forest Supervisor Julie King said the complex and, at times, controversial process yielded a solution with a value evident to most everyone.

“We are pleased with the outcome of this exchange process,” King said. “The consolidation of these lands will provide for more efficient resource management, reduce costs and provide greater certainty for public access and quality recreation. We appreciate the work of all the parties and supporters who promoted these land exchanges.”

Barrett is thankful too to all those who offered support for the exchange process.

“We are pleased that this long process is resulting in a more manageable landscape,” Barrett said. “The resulting exchanges will allow us, and the Forest Service, to be more efficient stewards of these important lands. I thank all the groups and individuals who supported our efforts in these exchanges.”

Ravalli County has supported the land consolidation effort since the 1990s. The potential of scattered development on the non-contiguous sections of land would have been costly to the county and created problems for resource management, firefighting and law enforcement, said Commissioner J.R. Iman.

“We see the outcome positively as it saved the Forest Service and county a lot of money, both in buying land and managing what would have come in the future,” Iman said.

The parcels affected in the exchange are atop three drainages that flow into the upper Bitterroot River through Rye, Sleeping Child and Little Sleeping Child creeks. Water quality and fisheries protection issues were considered as part of the exchange that includes Barrett placing a conservation easement on the lands he acquired.

The exchange had the support of the local chapter of Trout Unlimited.

“The resulting landscape is much more beneficial to clean water, quality fisheries and improved public access,” said Doug Nation, president of the Bitter Root Chapter of Trout Unlimited. “These watersheds have been used hard over the years and finally we will see them receive good stewardship from the CB Ranch, the state and Forest Service.”

John Ormiston was the Bitterroot Forest biologist when the idea to work toward consolidation of the lands first arose. Now retired, Ormiston remembers that Doris Milner helped spearhead that initial effort.

Darby Lumber had harvested every merchantable stick off the lands it owned before the exchange process really got underway, he said.

Today, the lands contain some of the most important big-game habitat in southwest Montana. Several thousand elk and a trophy deer herd winter there.

This final exchange puts an end to the confusing checkerboard land ownership pattern in that area.

“It is the final piece,” Ormiston said. “The Forest Service and CB Ranch borders are not in a relatively straight line. There are no more wholly surrounded private or national forest properties any more.”

Wildlife and public recreation will benefit as a result, he said.

“This is the culmination of a long-sought dream of making these lands whole and protected,” Ormiston said. “The wildlife and recreational values on these lands are enormous and future generations will see this as one of the significant conservation accomplishments in the valley.”

The completed exchanges, coupled with the conservation easement placed on Barrett’s lands, provide for more complete protection of the area than what would have been possible by simply buying out Darby Lumber, said David Genter, the exchange’s project manager.

“The public ownership of the higher-elevation forestland and the considerable conservation commitment of the Barretts on the foothills make this an unprecedented success story,” he said. “The ongoing restoration work will continue and these lands will provide well-managed, critical habitat for generations to come.”

Reach reporter Perry Backus at 363-3300 or pbackus@ravallirepublic.com.

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