Community

Gallatin Valley Land trust has completed its 120th conservation easement on a 200-acre parcel owned by Peggy and harry ring of Big Sky, Mont. The parcel is located about three miles south of Big Sky. It is visible to the public traveling along U.S. highway 191 and Beaver Creek road.

The Nine Quarter Circle ranch, which sits up the Taylor’s Fork valley south of Big Sky, is owned by the Kelsey family. Kameron and Sally Kelsey, the current owners in their 30s, run the ranch with two little ones and represent three generations of the Kelsey family’s business.

Wayne Hill joined the U.S. Army in 1942—shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in Dec. 1941— when he was 19 years old. he was assigned to ammunition and bomb disposal because he was near sighted. Wayne explained he was drifting, going nowhere, and didn’t know what he wanted to do out of high school.

After living in Big Sky her whole life, Kelsey French started the winter coat drive because she noticed people showing up for the winter work season—typically international J-1 visa recipients—unprepared for the bitter montana cold. She came up with the idea for a coat drive, found support, and now oversees the program in its second year.

On Tuesday, October 5, crews will begin work on a stream restoration project on the middle Fork West Fork Gallatin river as it flows out of lake levinsky, adjacent to Big Sky resort. i

A cool, sunny September morning was the perfect time to check in with the Upper Deer Creek river Access improvement Plan. Mark Castañeda, Conservation Fellow with the gallatin river Task Force was at the site, hand watering each new plant. Construction on the project was started over a year ago.