Sun Ranch Owner Donates Millions Toward Madison Valley Conservation

By Lucia Stewart, 8-13-08

Silicon Valley software mogul donated $3.9 million to the Trust for the Public Lands this week, with specific requirements that is goes to protecting the open space and agricultural heritage of the Madison Valley in Southwest Montana.

Roger Lang, owner of the Sun Ranch, is hoping to protect 1 million acres of the Madison Valley under conservation easement, driven by his “love for the region,” reports Daniel Pearson from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

The Sun Ranch, also located in the Madison Valley, is an example of a new development model for land conservation, where 95 percent of the 11,000 acres is placed under conservation easement while 10 lots are available, priced between $5 million and $8 million. All the money raised then goes back into buying more land and land easements.

But the recent donation to the Trust for the Public Lands is from Lang’s private fortune, not from the Sun Ranch Group.

“It’s the whole general culture and the wildlife of the American West that the Sun Ranch Group is trying to protect,” said Adam DeFanti of the Sun Ranch Group, reported the Chronicle.

And here is a link to Headwaters News Perspectives’ article on how the Sun Ranch’s approach to ranching with easements and wildlife works on our landscape.