Protecting 107 acres of land may not seem like a big deal in the capacious panorama of the American West. But when preservation takes the form of two islands in the wild and free-flowing Yellowstone River, it’s something that warrants public attention—for it’s the public, a waterway and wildlife that benefit most.
Beartooth Group, a Bozeman-based financial firm that specializes in making key strategic investments to achieve important conservation outcomes, has announced completion of a land deal that safeguards a pair of Yellowstone River islands just upstream of Reed Point, Montana. Peer above and below at the dramatic aerial photographs taken by Christopher Boyer to see the braided river and now-safeguarded parcels.
The private-public deal was done in cooperation with the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department and consultation with conversationists. FWP purchased the property from Beartooth which had acquired the islands as part of a larger real estate deal. It is a bold reminder of why protecting the ecological integrity of this iconic river, which originates in the center of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, matters.