Conserving a Wildlife Sanctuary and Family Touchstone
Glenn and Hazel Johnston donated a conservation easement on their 682 acres of land along the Flathead River in 2007. The conservation values of the land are outstanding – the property borders over a mile of the Flathead River and includes islands and backwater channels. It contains mature riparian habitat including large cottonwoods and conifers interspersed with moist pockets of sedges, tall grasses and cattails along with an ancient stand of ponderosa pine. These features along with its size provide excellent fish and wildlife habitat and protect water quality. The ranch also includes expansive agricultural lands on the high bluff above the river with rich soils important for food production.
For Glenn, the value of keeping the ranch intact with a conservation easement was rooted in his deep family ties to the land. The ranch has been in the family since the 1880s. Glenn’s grandfather Leroy was a pioneer that came across the plains from Pennsylvania through Nebraska to the Gallatin Valley settling in the Flathead Valley. The railroad had just been completed enabling Lee and his brother Reuben to make the long journey west. However, transportation to the Flathead was still difficult. In fact, Lee worked along the northern end of Flathead Lake and in Badrock Canyon to lower wagons around tight places with ropes. Lee homesteaded 160 acres of the Johnston property in 1885 living in a cabin with a dirt floor, sod roof, and log fireplace. Lee’s brother homesteaded the 160 acres just north of him. They lived in the cabin a few years before the road that is now Columbia Falls Stage was built, after which a ranch house was built along the road. Lee raised a family of five children on the land including Glenn’s father (Glenn senior).
“My dad, if anyone, deserves the credit for preserving this piece of land,” said Glenn. Glenn’s father loved the outdoors – hunting, trapping, fishing, and just being in the woods. Glenn’s father worked in the fur trading business which was lucrative even during the Depression. Around that time he had the opportunity to buy 160 acres of forested land along the river including several islands from the Somers Lumber Company. Glenn Sr. also bought the remainder of the ranch from his siblings. Initially, he used the river bottom land as a beaver farm, but ended up designating the bottom lands as a wildlife sanctuary. An article in the Hungry Horse News in 1961 says: “The Flathead is a favored valley with great stretches of outdoor wilderness of the Bob Marshall and Glacier National Park in the nearby mountains. Here in the Flathead Valley itself there is one last bit of remaining wilderness, and it is located between Columbia Falls and Kalispell on the Flathead River. It is part of the undisturbed river with big springs and ponds, bayous, tall pine, spruce, larch, cottonwoods, and dense brush. This is Glenn Johnston’s land recognized as a wildlife sanctuary by the Montana Fish and Game Department. It is believe to be the only such sanctuary in Montana. Elk, deer, beaver, moose, black bear, and an occasional otter as well as flocks of Canada geese frequent the area.”
“My dad really inspired me. He knew every tree and was so proud of the ranch. I fell so much in love with the place,” said Glenn. “It was important to me to keep it intact.” The best way to do this was with a conservation easement. Glenn discussed the concept of a conservation easement for the land with his son and granddaughter and they supported the idea.
“The value the ranch has for me is that it provides a sense of having roots in something wonderful and real. When I had stressful times during a period I lived in Salt Lake City, I thought of the ranch. It’s a place I’d imagine peace and quiet.”
“I hope that any of you that are considering conservation, you’ll seriously consider it. Things are so ephemeral and they go so quickly; as you try to hold on to certain things they just slip right from your fingers, but if you can invest in things of true value and that last, it is a very, very important thing to do.” Mark Johnston, son of Glenn and Hazel