Mill Creek
Gallatin Valley Land Trust’s Mill Creek project permanently protects nearly 437-acres
Gallatin Valley Land Trust, with support from the Keep It Connected program, closed their Mill Creek Drainage project in the Spring of 2026. The 437-acre Mill Creek conservation easement provides a vital migration route for wildlife, such as grizzly bear, black bear, wolf, elk, mule deer and pronghorn.
The Mill Creek project permanently protects 437 acres of working ranchland in Montana’s Paradise Valley. This voluntary conservation easement secures a vital stretch of the Mill Creek corridor, an essential wildlife movement pathway and the largest tributary to the Upper Yellowstone River. By preventing subdivision and development in a rapidly growing region, the project preserves both the agricultural integrity of the land and its critical role in maintaining landscape connectivity.
The property supports a wide range of iconic Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem species, including grizzly bear, black bear, wolf, elk, mule deer, and pronghorn. Its mix of pasture, rangeland, and riparian habitat creates an important transitional zone between the Absaroka-Beartooth mountain front and the valley floor. These diverse habitat types provide forage, cover, and migration pathways for wildlife moving between seasonal ranges, while also supporting ongoing hay production and grazing that sustain the region’s agricultural heritage.
Strategically located along Mill Creek and bordering the recently conserved Warfield Ranch, which connects directly to U.S. Forest Service lands, the Mill Creek project plays a key role in an expanding network of protected lands. This project strengthens connectivity between private working lands and adjacent public landscapes, including the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park. As part of a broader conservation effort that has protected or is in the process of protecting more than 5,000 acres in the area, the easement helps maintain a continuous corridor of open space in Paradise Valley. This connectivity is especially important as development pressures increase, ensuring that wildlife can continue to move freely across the landscape and adapt to changing environmental conditions.
Funding from the Keep It Connected program was instrumental in helping close the final funding gap for this project. Keep It Connected’s support complemented the family’s generous donation of property value and leveraged contributions from multiple partners, enabling timely completion in a competitive real estate market. This project reflects the Gallatin Valley Land Trust’s strategic focus on conserving high-priority lands in Paradise Valley, where collaborative, landscape-scale conservation is essential to protecting both working ranches and critical wildlife habitat. Together, these efforts ensure that the ecological and agricultural values of this landscape will endure for generations to come.
“Following the loss of a federal grant to support working farms and ranches in southwest Montana, the future of this project was uncertain. The landowner and Gallatin Valley Land Trust agreed on a fair, yet ambitious private fundraising goal, and Heart of the Rockies Initiative’s Keep It Connected Initiative and other private funders rallied to support a conservation easement that will keep working lands in working hands.” – Cole Herdman, Northern Yellowstone Open Lands, Gallatin Valley Land Trust