Columbia Falls river land to be conserved

In 2005, at the height of the building boom in the Flathead, Jeff Smith bought 10 acres of land along U.S. 2 east of Columbia Falls.

One day, a herd of elk ran across his property, and Smith followed them onto an adjacent farm.

The landowner at the time asked him what he was doing. Smith asked the man if he wanted to sell the place. A few months later, Smith owned 140 acres of prime Flathead River land with a spring-fed trout stream and sweeping views of Teakettle and Columbia mountains.

Smith has seen just about every wild animal cross the place, including elk, deer, turkeys, and black and grizzly bears. But he has no plans to subdivide the property — just the opposite.

Through a cooperative arrangement with the Flathead Land Trust and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and an adjacent landowner, the plan is to complete a stream restoration project on about 245 acres of river bottom land and place it under a conservation easement, hopefully by 2016.

“It’s important winter range for deer and elk,” said Laura Katzman, of the Flathead Land Trust.

Last week, Katzman and executive director Paul Travis joined Gail Bissell, of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for a tour of Smith’s property.

The Land Trust has seen a lot of success protecting lands along the Flathead River corridor. Since 2000, the organization’s River to Lake Initiative has protected more than 5,000 acres of critical wetlands and restored nearly three miles of riparian habitat along the river. The easements are voluntary, and landowners will still have use of the property — it just can’t be subdivided.

Smith’s property is divided by a spring creek that had been straightened into a ditch by a previous landowner. The overall plan is to restore the creek’s natural curves. Ideally, the Land Trust would also like to work with Glencore, the owner of the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. smelter, to preserve additional acreage along the river. But contacting company officials has proven challenging, Katzman noted. Glencore owns more than 1,400 acres along the river adjacent to Smith’s property.

For his part, Smith sees his land becoming a retreat someday. A Garden City, Idaho-based landscaper specializing in high-end homes, he’s already remodeled the house and surrounding outbuildings.

One cabin has an Old West-themed bar; another has bunks complete with buffalo-rug blankets. Smith has put in two fishing ponds, and a pump-fed stream and waterfall. He said he rounded up a group of high school students from his home state to do all the work, learning as they went.

Smith said he’d like to see the property host nonprofit groups like the Wounded Warriors. The ranch offers excellent hunting opportunities. In one day, he counted 98 elk, 178 deer, 39 turkeys and “an uncountable number of geese and ducks.”

Smith also raises Scottish Highland cattle on the property, which are lighter on the land than other breeds.

Bissell said the project would be funded through a mix of sources, including federal, state and private grants.