Kohrs Easement
Significant Conservation Easement Protects Stillwater River Farm and Wildlife
The Kohrs family began visiting the Flathead Valley from their home in Minnesota in 2001. They fell in love with Montana and purchased a 20-acre parcel along the Stillwater River in 2005. Since then, they have pieced together 655 acres of rich farmland along the river. Its location, combination of wildlife habitat and rich farmland, and scenic beauty captivated Doug and Carolyn right from the start. “We knew we wanted to protect the land when we bought it,” said Carolyn. They placed a conservation easement on the land, permanently protecting its conservation values in 2022.
Doug and Carolyn knew the property was important to wildlife, but the types and diversity of wildlife captured by a game camera placed on the property was incredible. “Photos taken by the camera have documented grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, fox, elk, and deer using the property. We even discovered that elk have their babies on a back corner of our property,” exclaimed Doug. Over the years, Doug and Carolyn have seen almost 100 species of birds on the property including great gray owls, sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, pileated woodpeckers and belted kingfishers.
Photo: The Stillwater River running through the Kohrs conservation easement
The Kohrs property includes intact riparian forest along 1.7 miles of the Stillwater River and almost 500 acres of farmed land. It is also adjacent to the 1,557-acre Kuhns Wildlife Management Area and is contiguous with an additional 1,800 acres of public land. These qualities make it key wildlife habitat and important to the ecological integrity of the Flathead. Conserving the property also helps protect water quality and healthy river function. The farmland on the property is some of the richest in Montana and the nation. Keeping the productive farmland in agriculture to grow food for people is critical for our future.
Doug and Carolyn have three grown children, and their daughter Clara recently had the family’s first grandchild, Quinn. Quinn will be able to grow up and fall in love with this rich landscape and its incredible natural qualities as his family did due to their foresight. The Kohrs’ decision to conserve their land will help protect the quality of life for future generations of all who live in and visit northwest Montana. “There is going to be development and growth in the area but protecting the special places like the Kohrs property will help sustain the amazing quality of life here,” said Laura Katzman of Flathead Land Trust.
Photo: Carolyn Kohrs, center, with her children, Clara, left, Clara’s son, Quinn, and Hannah, right, on the Kohrs family land (photo courtesy of Kate Heston/Daily Inter Lake)
In return for conserving their land, the Kohrs family also received financial compensation. They received cash from a grant from the Natural Resource Conservation Service Agricultural Land Easement program which provides federal funding through the Farm Bill to help keep productive farmland in agriculture throughout the United States. They also received cash from a Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation Grant, administered through the Heart of the Rockies “Keep it Connected” program. The Heart of the Rockies Initiative is a land trust partnership working to protect connected habitat and working lands for people and wildlife by increasing the pace of conservation in the Central Rockies of North America. The Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation provides funding for the survival of wildlife and wildlands and to the vitality of human communities with which they are inextricably linked. Because the grants provided cash for only a portion of the value of a conservation easement, the Kohrs family qualified for federal income tax benefits for the bargain sale portion of the conservation easement as well.
Photo: Canola field on the Kohrs conservation easement
In the end, the Kohrs have quite a legacy. We are lucky that the Kohrs family acted on their thoughts of: “Why does one fall in love with Montana? What can we do to protect that?”
Photo: Doug and Carolyn Kohrs on their conserved property
