It’s easy to be modest when our neighbor is Ted Turner, owner of the historic Flying D Ranch. The ranch spreads from the Gallatin to the Madison Rivers covering some 113,000 acres, and carries a variety of wildlife, including about 3,500 buffalo.

For several years I told Ramona we too needed buffalo. After all, they are native to our place and our land holds a full complement of other native species. She quite sensibly objected, but I persisted-and ultimately won.

I commissioned a local artist, Kirsten Kainz, to craft a buffalo sculpture as an anniversary surprise. Kirsten’s talent transformed junk iron, with only a small salvage value, into an impressive and quite valuable piece of art. While Ted’s buffalo are more numerous by a few thousand, his heftiest weighs a ton, while ours is twice as heavy.

Both represent the history of our region: his in a biological sense, while ours tells the story of an evolving economy. Ramona’s buffalo is made from agricultural and logging junk, reminding all who see it of our traditional culture and economy. And to us, our lives together.

Fortunately for all, when Ted bought the Flying D Ranch in 1989 he deeded the development rights to the Nature Conservancy. His is an excellent model, one we emulated on a far, far smaller scale.

In December, after years of working with friends and professional consultants, and then help from the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, we placed a conservation easement on our ranch. Aside from our home, ranch buildings, and a few acres with spring creeks and ponds, 97% of the land is permanently dedicated to wildlife and agriculture with only three home sites permitted in the easement. While our effort is modest and Ted’s grand, I hope both are contagious.

Ted’s gift to the Nature Conversancy increased the value of all neighboring lands, including ours. Likewise, our modest grant of development rights to GVLT contributes to the community by protecting habitat and scenery for all to enjoy.

Alas, such conservation makes land near ours and Ted’s more attractive for development. Much of the land we hayed on contract thirty years ago has since been converted into home sites. Twenty years ago, the ranch across from ours was broken into 20 acre parcels with serious restrictions on development. It is now occupied by nice people in attractive homes, often with small, tasteful horse barns. While ideally we prefer intact ranches, we like our neighbors and this conversion maintains an open appearance. It would be a shame if it were despoiled by some dense, congested development nearby.

The Gateway area is attractive not only because of its proximity to Bozeman and Big Sky, but also because of its large home sites and permanent open spaces. The question for places like Gateway, and there are many in our region, is how to protect what we cherish. People want to live in locations such as ours, and would-be developers are attracted to the potential for large financial payoffs.

The pressures for development, especially highly profitable dense projects, are intense. High-density developments will erode treasured ecological and cultural characteristics. This type of development dramatically alters the nature of a community by putting pressure on schools, roads, and water resources. Developers employ highly experienced professional consultants, many of whom have worked for governmental planning agencies. They’ve learned how to capture HUD and other tax payer monies to subsidize the infrastructure expenses associated with high-density development. While others pay for the roads, sewers, and sidewalks, many developers ignore or discount the spillover environmental and social effects of their ventures.

Rural communities all over our region are sensitive to these pressing dangers, and our vigilance is required. We’ve learned from the Bridger Canyon experience with the threatened methane gas drilling by J.M. Huber Corporation. Big outside money was thwarted by residents’ opposition. Homeowners, if well organized and strongly motivated, surely can resist ill-conceived and opportunistic housing projects.

Small rural communities in attractive settings will change. Our challenge is to guide that change. When big outside money, along with federal and state funds from taxpayers, invade our communities with high-density development, it is an assault on our quality of life and home values. On guard!