Case Ranch protects 2,330 acres of habitat, ranchlands, and history in Potomac. Image Credit: Five Valleys Land Trust
Atira Conservation notes that the easement protects habitat connectivity for numerous species, including 14 Montana Species of Conservation Concern.
The property provides an important connection between the Northern Continental Divide, Greater Yellowstone and Bitterroot-Selway ecosystems, according to Atira Conservation. The permanently protected land could help preserve routes used by animals moving through the Potomac Valley and the wider Blackfoot River watershed, according to Five Valleys. The Case Ranch sits along the north-eastern edge of the Potomac Valley, an area recognised for its position between several major ecosystems. Five Valleys Land Trust reports that the ranch contains a mixture of conifer forest, grasslands, lush meadows and around three miles of Union Creek frontage. These habitats support elk, moose, black bears, grizzly bears, native trout, raptors and numerous resident and migratory birds, including sandhill cranes. The ranch also plays an important role in allowing wildlife to move across the wider landscape. The importance of that connection was one reason the project attracted support from several conservation organisations.
But deciding how to secure the future of the 2,330-acre Case Ranch proved to be a long process, spanning about 20 years and two generations. In March 2026, that process finally reached its destination when a conservation easement permanently protected the ranch while allowing it to remain in family ownership and continue operating as a working landscape. The overall $4.8 million project received $2.34 million from the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service through its Agricultural Land Easement programme, according to Five Valleys Land Trust. Five Valleys reported that the Missoula County Commissioners awarded the project $994,550 in November 2024, the largest award in the programme’s history.
The project required the agreement of seven family members and the support of a wide coalition of public and private partners, according to Five Valleys Land Trust. For nearly a century, the Case family has been connected to a broad stretch of land in Montana’s Potomac Valley. The agreement protects forests, meadows, wetlands and important wildlife habitat, while also preserving agricultural land and public hunting access. For the Case family, the decision was ultimately about ensuring that the ranch would remain whole rather than being divided and developed. The final agreement required a substantial financial partnership. Missoula County residents also supported the project through the county’s Open Space Bond programme.
Case family’s journey of securing the future of their 2,330-acre Montana ranch
The conservation easement was roughly 20 years and two generations in the making, according to Five Valleys Land Trust. For a family whose history on the ranch stretches back to 1932, the agreement offers a future in which the Case Ranch can remain intact. The central challenge was finding a solution that would protect the land without forcing the family to give it up. A conservation easement offered that possibility. Additional support came from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust, The Montana Land Reliance, Atira Conservation, the Cinnabar Foundation, the Case Ranch Company and community donations to Five Valleys. The Case Ranch project demonstrates how a family decision can eventually become a wider community effort. After two decades of discussion and planning, the seven members of the family found a way to preserve the land without ending their connection to it. The historic ranch will remain in private ownership and continue as a working landscape. But its forests, meadows, agricultural land and wildlife habitat now have a permanent layer of protection.
