Reconsideration and conditions follow split Land Board vote on contested Madison River lease

Helena — The Montana Board of Land Commissioners on May 18, 2026, heard heated public testimony and split over a grazing lease on trust land along the Madison River, including a bid from Andrea Hastings the bidder said would provide the highest return to the school trust.

Andrea Hastings, identified in the record as the high bidder, told the Board her $12,000-per-year proposal ‘‘provides the highest financial return to the school trust while also improving stewardship of the land,’’ and said her plan would reduce sagebrush overgrowth, lower wildfire risk, control weeds and protect the riparian corridor along the Madison River. Hastings also said she had submitted a 47-page complaint alleging longstanding misconduct by the current lessee and asked the Board to place that complaint into the public record.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Susie Hedalen moved to approve Lease No. 1092 (Madison River Ranch Assoc. Inc./high bidder Andrea Hastings); that motion failed on the first vote, 1-4, according to the minutes. Commissioner James Brown then moved to reverse the vote and make a new motion to approve the lease to high bidder Andrea Hastings; Attorney General Austin Knudsen seconded. Superintendent Hedalen proposed and won an amendment requiring a stipulation that a sagebrush management plan be in place; the amendment carried 4-1. The minutes excerpt provided records the amendment's passage but does not explicitly record a final tally on the underlying reconsideration/approval motion.

Board members and DNRC staff discussed stewardship plans, access and procedural questions during the item; DNRC Director Amanda Kaster and Parker Osterloh, Land Section Supervisor, answered technical questions about the lease record and stewardship expectations. Hastings told the Board she grazes horses, not cattle for slaughter, and said the current Madison River Ranch Homeowners Association had presented ‘‘no grazing plan, no weed management plan, and no meaningful stewardship proposal’’ during the hearing.

Hastings also alleged the HOA’s governance favors out-of-state owners and an LLC she named in the record, and she said certain roads in the riparian zone were created ‘‘for the benefit of a select few Madison River Ranch homeowners’’; those claims were not resolved in the minutes excerpted.

The Board approved other grazing leases on the agenda without controversy: Lease No. 10791 (Tyler Noll et al./Chad Follmer bid), Lease No. 10590 (Allen Denzer et al./Z & Z Farms LLC bid), and Lease No. 5183 (Kenneth Judisch/Anthony Nickol bid) were each approved by motion and unanimous consent.

The meeting record notes the Land Board’s statutory duty to manage school trust lands to generate revenue for K–12 education, a theme raised by Hastings in her remarks. The minutes also record that Hastings requested missing records be placed into the public record; DNRC staff acknowledged outreach and records issues were discussed but the excerpts do not show a final action on that request.

Next steps: the minutes do not show a clear final tally on the Board’s reconsideration motion for Lease No. 1092 in the excerpt provided. The Board’s official minutes and audio recording (as adopted by the Land Board policy) should be consulted for the complete roll-call and any subsequent entries that confirm the final disposition of the lease.