As development pressure mounts across the Gallatin Valley, Teyck and Barbara Weed have partnered with the Gallatin Valley Land Trust to protect their sprawling Springhill property north of Belgrade. The couple and GVLT recently completed a 138-acre voluntary conservation easement to keep the land clean, productive and accessible to wildlife, according to a Tuesday press release.
"The primary motivation on our part was to maintain the unspoiled landscape and prevent the fragmentation of a relatively large parcel of prime agricultural land and wildlife habitat," Teyck Weed said in the release. “Land is life.”
Founded in 1990, the community-based nonprofit works with private landowners to conserve working farms, ranches, critical wildlife habitat and open space across Gallatin, Park and Madison counties. To date, GVLT has permanently protected more than 75,000 acres through 140 voluntary conservation easements.
The Springhill community has long sought to preserve its rural character, petitioning Gallatin County in the early 1990s to establish a local zoning district. But watching Belgrade’s population surge nearly 30% between 2020 and 2026, according to the U.S. census, Teyck Weed recognized that the local regulations weren't enough to permanently safeguard their scenic spot along the western slope of the Bridger Mountains.
"Springhill's zoning ordinance is a step in the right direction,” Teyck Weed said. “But the conservation easement is a much stronger deterrent to the tsunami of development overtaking Gallatin Valley.”
Unlike local zoning, which can be altered over time, a voluntary conservation easement permanently restricts development rights on private land to protect its natural and agricultural resources. To make the agreement a reality, the Weeds donated a significant portion of the land's value, with additional financial support coming from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.
“Federal funding programs like these are critical to making conservation a viable reality for working agricultural families,” the release states.
A local producer currently leases and farms the property's irrigated acreage, which is framed by surrounding grassland, sagebrush, and woodland. The land is bisected by Dry Canyon Creek, a key wildlife corridor that supports local game birds, waterfowl and major mammals like elk, moose, black bears and mountain lions.
“The myriad creatures that call this place home are largely excluded from the table where development decisions are made," Teyck Weed said. "This easement is one relatively small way that their needs for space, security, and food are met.”
For GVLT Conservation Program Manager Crystal Beckman, the easement is not only a benefit to the local wildlife, but a gift to the Springhill community for generations to come.
"It's been an honor to partner with Teyck and Barbara to establish this conservation easement," Beckman said in the release. "We are deeply grateful for their vision.”