Head south on Fox Farm Road and it won’t be hard to tell where the town of Great Falls ends. A line of backyards on the last block of the neighborhood gives way abruptly to open spaces and sporadic houses that dot the hillsides.
Alan Rollo has lived on that border for 17 years at the corner of Grizzly Drive and Fox Farm Road.
“I see it as my backyard,” he said. “But also public lands.”
Behind Rollo’s house is a 79-acre section of state-owned land along the Missouri River. There is a small communications tower at the southern end of the plot, but otherwise notable developments are fences and shod paths. Hikers, dog trainers, bird watchers and other recreationalists are the most common visitors to this natural area.
“This is probably one of the best areas open to the public to train dogs,” said Wayne Green, a retired U.S. Forest Service geologist. He has trained two dogs on the natural grassland.
In recent years, a nonprofit group has been working to keep the land behind Rollo’s house as it is. The only obstacle? They must pay one million dollars at the end of August.
The nonprofit Missouri River Open Lands has made some progress. According to Doug Ormseth, the group’s president, it raised nearly $400,000 through grants and donations. But time is running out.
“We have an extreme sense of urgency to raise that money,” he said.
Funding is the last piece that must fall into place for the group to achieve its goal. This parcel is a portion of state trust land directly across from the city of Great Falls. Reserved a century ago for the benefit of public schools, the State is obliged to generate income for that purpose.
To secure the land and prevent future large-scale development, Missouri River Open Lands first had to get a government entity to agree to apply for and maintain the easement on behalf of the nonprofit. After conversations with local officials, Cascade County agreed in 2023 to apply for the easement and work with the group on a management plan.
The other piece was financing. When the nonprofit started its own fundraising two years ago, it first had to raise about $15,000 to survey and appraise the land. The result of that evaluation, completed in 2023, gave Ormseth and the group a goal of $1 million. This is the figure Montana agreed would be a fair return for its school trust obligation in exchange for an easement guaranteeing open, recreational grasslands.
If successful, Missouri River Open Lands would ensure the land is never divided up for housing, condominiums or commercial development. As more and more homes appear in the county south of Fox Farm, Rollo said traffic has become much more regular. The area’s elementary school, Meadow Lark, is the largest in the district and recently underwent an expansion.
“All that development,” Rollo said. “It’s putting pressure on Fox Farm.”
Missouri River Open Lands seeks to protect the land from possible long-term development. There is no immediate threat of subdivision of this land. According to an environmental assessment, proposals from past decades included a golf course and a residential complex. Small gravel pits have operated there. For years, the radio tower has been the only source of revenue, bringing in $3,374 to the state in the most recent year, according to the Montana Department of Natural Resources.
Nothing has been considered that could drastically alter the area. The nonprofit, founded by Rollo and featuring Green as a board member, is looking to make sure it stays that way. Supporters are even digging into Lewis and Clark’s journals to establish historical connections to the land and Taylor Island across the river.
“It’s very unique because it’s basically the same as when Lewis and Clark walked this earth,” Ormseth said.
The fundraising deadline is August 23, which is when the $1 million assessment expires. Missing that deadline means thousands of dollars for another appraisal and the possibility of a higher fundraising goal.
The organization can be found at MissouriRiverOpenLands.org.
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