Vital Mission Valley farmlands protected for future generations
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News from Flathead Land Trust
MISSION VALLEY — Two Mission Valley families have ensured that their farming legacies will endure. In the past two weeks, Paul and Sharon Guenzler and Cody and Elizabeth Sherman collectively protected nearly 700 acres of rich agricultural land with conservation easements through Flathead Land Trust. These land protection agreements preserve fertile farmland, vital wildlife habitat, and enhance the families’ farming heritage. Both families have farmed in the Mission Valley for over a century.
The Guenzler’s 290 acres west of Ronan and the Sherman’s 387 acres west of Pablo are both supported by high-quality soils on nearly all the property, with soils classified as “prime farmland, if irrigated” and “farmland of local importance” by the Natural Resource Conservation Service. Both families run successful self-sustaining cattle operations on their properties, with pasture and hay grown on the land fully supporting their herds. These landscapes sustain a traditional heritage. The Guenzler family continues to ranch on horseback, partnering with their high-quality AQHA horses raised on their extended ranch.
Protection of these lands will not only improve the sustainability of the family farms but will also provide greater opportunity for future generations. The Sherman’s children intend to carry on the family’s agricultural tradition on the land. “It is important to our family and Montana ways of life to preserve the land for future generations of farming. Being able to pass down our traditions of hard work, stewardship, and love for the way of life that gives back to our community,” the Shermans relayed.
These protected properties complement and add to a network of thousands of acres of adjacent farmland preserved under conservation easements. The Sherman property is adjacent to almost 2,200 acres of protected farmland. The Guenzler property is adjacent to a conserved 160-acre farm containing Sloan Lake and is near an additional 500 acres of conserved farmland.
Both conservation easements also safeguard critical winter habitat for birds of prey, as the Mission Valley has some of the highest concentrations of wintering birds of prey in the United States. Bald eagles, rough-legged hawks, red-tailed hawks, northern harriers, American kestrels, and occasionally golden eagles regularly use both properties in winter.
In addition to rich agricultural land, both properties harbor wetlands utilized by plentiful birds and wildlife. The Guenzler conservation easement protects a half mile of West Miller Coulee, which, together with other wetlands on the property, is used by many birds such as snipe and sora. In addition, it protects a native bunchgrass, Basin wild rye, which is rare in the lowlands of the Mission Valley. It grows to over five feet in height on the property.
The Guenzler and Sherman families are deeply committed to the vitality of agriculture in the Mission Valley. Paul Guenzler is a past Board Member, Vice President, and President of the Western Montana Stockman’s Association. Cody Sherman is a director of the Western Montana Stockman’s Association. Both are Board members of the Mission Valley Future Farmers of America Alumni. Recognizing the importance of fostering the next generation, both men also spearheaded the creation of a scholarship program supporting local 4H and FFA students pursuing careers in agriculture and the cattle industry. Guenzler has also been Chairman of the Flathead Irrigation District for the past 12 years. Sherman is the Chair of the Farm Service Agency County Committee, Producer Board Member of the CHS Mountain West Co-op. Elizabeth Sherman is secretary/treasurer for the Mission Valley FFA Alumni. It is fitting that part of the Guenzler and Sherman families’ agricultural legacy in the Mission Valley will come from ensuring that their rich farmland remains available for farming in perpetuity. Agriculture can continue to thrive in a community where their families have been deeply embedded for generations.
These projects would not have been possible without federal funding from the Natural Resource Conservation Service Agricultural Land Easement program. This approach aims to protect the nation’s food supply by preventing the conversion of productive agricultural land to non-agricultural uses, thereby keeping rich farmland in agriculture through conservation easements. Through this program, a landowner can receive cash for placing a conservation easement on their land, keeping it available for agriculture, preventing future subdivision and limiting future residential and commercial development.
Paul Guenzler articulated, “Conservation easements allow the opportunity for agriculture to persist for future generations while retaining our open space in western Montana.”
Completion of these conservation easements has helped Flathead Land Trust increase pace of conservation in a rapidly growing region. Flathead Land Trust has placed 83 properties under conservation easement over the course of 40 years, collaboratively protecting nearly 20,000 acres in northwest Montana. For more information on these programs and conservation easements, please visit: flatheadlandtrust.org.
