Easement protects riparian habitat on Swan River

Ed Goldberg had no intention of buying land when he first visited the Flathead Valley. Upon arrival, however, he fell in love with the biodiversity, the wilderness and the beauty of it all.

“I found a connection with that part of the world,” Goldberg said.

In October 2020, Goldberg bought 40 acres along the Swan River east of Bigfork. This May, with the help of the Flathead Land Trust, he put the land under a conservation easement, helping to protect primarily undisturbed forest and riparian habitat.

The parcel borders a third of a mile of the Swan River and contains a mosaic of forested and riparian lands which are home to at least 114 species of birds and a large number of wildlife, according to Laura Katzman, a land protection specialist with the Flathead Land Trust.

“This heterogeneous wet habitat has high biological diversity and productivity that makes it among the most important bird and wildlife habitat in the Intermountain West,” Katzman said.

The Flathead Land Trust is a nonprofit that works with landowners who are interested in protecting their land in perpetuity through a conservation easement. The easements allow landowners to maintain private ownership of the land while preventing any future development.

“Look, it's just a privilege to be able to do something like this,” Goldberg said.

Goldberg moved to Bozeman from Boston in the early 2000s. After buying land in the Flathead in 2020, a friend of Goldberg’s, who works with conservation efforts in California, recommended he reach out to a local conservation group to protect the property.

“It was a pretty simple process,” said Goldberg. “Let this hopefully be a catalyst.”

The riparian forest is home to myriad trees, including large mature spruce, cottonwood, aspen, fir, birch and more. There are also dead trees that are still standing, called snags, as well as woody debris along the ground — both essential for the habitats of many birds who nest within them. There is also a thick understory of shrubs and grass.

The stretch of the Swan River near the property does not freeze in the winter, Katzman said, making it home to trumpeter swans, hooded mergansers and other waterfowl. The forests help protect the water quality of the river as well.

“This is really one of the more beautiful places on Earth. It's too valuable. It can't be lost,” Goldberg said.

The area is a slice of important habitat amongst a neighborhood of sorts. According to Katzman, the land trust would support and work with others in the area who are interested in placing their own land under an easement.

A no-brainer, Goldberg would call it.

“The quality of life in any community is established by the generations before them who were generous,” Goldberg said, with the hopes that this easement will help future generations too.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.

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