Madison Valley ranch owners protect chunk of critical wildlife habitat

By NICK GEVOCK, Chronicle Staff Writer

Roger and Cynthia Lang's vision when they bought the Sun Ranch in the upper Madison Valley four years ago didn't involve a sea of trophy homes or swank golf community.

Instead they wanted to keep the grasslands, creeks and foothills for the wildlife that frequent the ranch.

To that end, the Langs this week put a conservation easement that bars development on one-third of the 18,000-acre ranch that is a crucial winter ground and migration route for wildlife.

"It has always been in my plan," Roger Lang said Friday. "It's the right thing to do for the land."

Connecting the foothills of the Madison Range with the river that bears that name, the Sun Ranch is some of the best wildlife habitat in the Madison Valley, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Kurt Alt said.

Thousands of elk winter there, moose feed in willow-lined creeks and a pack of wolves dens on the property.

The Sun Ranch is also vital habitat for antelope, mountain lions and grizzly bears, Alt said.

"It's just a really important chunk of property for a whole bunch of reasons," Alt said. "To lose it to development would have been a tremendous loss."

The ranch, about 25 miles south of Ennis on the east side of the Madison River, is already chopped up into a hodgepodge of parcels, including many 20-acre tracts.

"It's just inconceivable that that was OK as an appropriate type of development for that area," said Lang, a 43-year-old California high-tech mogul who confounded Cutthroat Communications and bought the Sun Ranch in 1998 from actor Steven Seagal.

The easement covers the ranch's northern 6,830 acres surrounding Wolf Creek.

"I think of the Sun Ranch as being a vital link between the Madison Mountain Range and the Gravelly Mountain Range to the west for all kinds of critters," Alt said.

Nature Conservancy of Montana director Jamie Williams, whose group will hold the easement, said the group has worked on conservation projects with the Langs since they bought the property. But talk of the permanent easement began just last year.

"They essentially came to us and said, 'This is something we really want to do now,'" Williams said. "We're just really honored to work with the Langs."

The Langs graze cattle on the ranch and have worked on conservation projects with other groups, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Trout Unlimited. College students conduct archaeological research on the ranch and Lang has been active in fighting noxious weeds throughout the valley.

The conservation easement has tax advantages for the Langs that they plan to take full advantage of by staggering future easements, he said.

"My wife and I have full intentions of protecting the rest of the ranch as well," Lang said. "I go to bed feeling awfully good about this decision."

Nick Gevock is at ngevock@dailychronicle.com

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