Senate tables SB209 after hours of testimony for and against 40-year limit on conservation easements

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Greg Usher opened a hearing on Senate Bill 209, an act that would limit the term length of conservation easements to 40 years, prohibit easement restrictions on agricultural activity and prohibit the transfer of conserved land to federal control. Sponsor Sen. Tony Tezak (Senate District 35) said he introduced the measure to protect "the Montana way of life," particularly ranching and agriculture, and then asked the committee to hear testimony while he worked on a solution outside the legislative process. "I and we, I believe, can achieve our main objective and goal. And have I there have regrettedly decided to table this bill," Tezak said in his opening remarks.

The committee heard several hours of testimony from a broad cross-section of Montana interests. Proponents of limiting perpetual easements included Charles Denow, representing United Property Owners of Montana, who argued long or perpetual easements can reduce landowners’ ability to capture future value and can function as a monopsony favoring land trusts; Denow said term easements "allow land owners an opportunity to even the playing field." Opponents included timber companies, hunting and conservation organizations, county land-trust partners and dozens of ranchers who testified that perpetual conservation easements are essential estate-planning tools that permit family farms and ranches to remain in production and to transfer intact to the next generation.

Speakers opposing the bill included representatives from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Wild Sheep Foundation, Boone and Crockett Club, Trust for Public Land, Ducks Unlimited, Montana Land Reliance and numerous landowners and family ranches who gave first-person accounts of using perpetual easements to keep properties in agriculture and open to public recreation. Jason Callahan of Green Diamond Resource Company said conservation easements allowed his company to sustain timber management and pay workers while forests regrow; he said easements include working-lands management provisions and in his company’s easements motorized recreation is not precluded.

Several landowners described using conservation easements to fund estate transitions and buy neighboring acreage with 1031 exchange proceeds. Cooper Hibbard and Terrell Hibbard described multi‑generation ranch transfers that they say would not have been possible without perpetual easements. Witnesses representing the Montana Chamber of Commerce and Montana Wood Products Association said limiting perpetuity could hinder industrial reclamation projects and reduce timber supply to mills.

Land-trust representatives said their organizations do not buy land, that participation in easements is voluntary and that demand often outstrips their capacity. Kendall Van Dyke of the Montana Land Reliance said, "In 50 years, almost 50 years, the Montana Land Reliance has never purchased farm or ranch land." Several witnesses noted that most working‑land easements used NRCS (USDA) programs for funding and that placing federal funds on an easement does not transfer ownership to the federal government.

After hearings that the chair curtailed to one to two minutes per speaker to accommodate many in person and online, Senator Ricky (as recorded in the hearing) moved to table SB209. The committee took a voice vote; the clerk recorded three senators voting aye by proxy (Senator Madsail, Senator And Ritchie, and Senator Smith) and the motion passed. The committee placed SB209 on the table by the sponsor’s request and agreement that further work would occur outside the immediate bill process.

Ending: The sponsor said he would pursue negotiations with landowners and land trusts outside the committee and the hearing record was left open for written testimony; the committee voted to table SB209.