Preserving Montana ranches, and more through conservation easements.

Even out west, most city folk (and most suburban folk, for that matter) don’t really know very much about large-scale ranching.

Still, for the most part, we rather like the idea that the cowboys’ way of life still goes on out there in the splendid isolation of rural Montana.

But ranchers often aren’t just maintaining a particular lifestyle. They’re preserving that splendid isolation, too.

The latest to do so in perpetuity is the family that owns the Sieben Live Stock Company. The Hibbards recently donated a 40,064-acre conservation easement on their ranch to the Montana Land Reliance, the biggest easement ever given to the land trust in its 30-year history.

In return for an easement, which involves giving up development rights to land with conservation and open space value, ranchers get substantial tax incentives. In the case of the Hibbard family and many others, the incentives will enable them to pass the working ranch on to a new generation without forcing them to sell part of it off to pay inheritance taxes.

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2008/03/18/opinions/top/irview_080318.txt