Opinion Editorials state the views solely of the author and do not reflect the views of the Community Journal.
By Sam Byrne
As you may have heard, Crazy Mountain Ranch signed a consent agreement with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation regarding watering its golf course under construction.
On behalf of Crazy Mountain Ranch, I want to apologize to the Shields Valley community for getting ahead of the process for irrigating the golf course.
Since we acquired CMR from Philip Morris in 2021, we have aimed to be good neighbors and stewards of the land.
We remain committed to retaining the unique character of the ranch and continuing the ranch and agricultural operations, but also to ensuring a financially self-sustaining enterprise.
We thought we could water our golf course with our decreed irrigation water while seeking the appropriate change of place-of-use approvals from the DNRC. I want to apologize for how we handled that. It was based on our understanding of the DNRC’s policy historically and was a mistake on our part. We pledge to do better going forward.
Here is some background on who we are. I am co-founder and managing partner at CrossHarbor Capital, an investment firm based in Boston that specializes in real estate. Our projects span the United States. As a developer, we are long-term investors—we don’t sell to make a quick profit. We’ve been active in southwest Montana for 20 years and statewide employ more than 3,000 Montanans and use more than 2,000 contractors and service providers.
When we acquired CMR, it was not a profitable operation. Philip Morris had used the ranch for guests to reward its best tobacco customers.
Our top priority from the outset was to NOT pursue aggressive development. Instead, we decided to continue the historical operation of a guest ranch and add a golf club, with overnight stays instead of private residential development. We could have located the golf course within the existing place-of-use of our irrigation water rights and avoided the DNRC process entirely. But that would have required very substantial changes in the existing landscape, contrary to our firmly held belief that any course must fit the existing landscape and not the other way around.
Longer term, we intend to create conservation easements that would permit continued ranch and ag operations as well as recreational use. Key to this program is adding recreational amenities such as golf to support demand. Amenities will not include ski lifts.
We have agreed to not use our decreed water rights for the golf course until we receive the appropriate authorizations. In the meantime, we are irrigating with water acquired legally from other sources, and DNRC has approved and is monitoring that activity.
Since acquiring the ranch, we have been committed to this community for the long haul—and that hasn’t changed. CMR currently employs about 130 people, nearly all of whom live in the area.
We committed $500,000 to improve the facilities at Shields Valley Public Schools as part of last year’s bond measure, which unfortunately did not pass. But we stand ready to make that gift when it does. We donated $750,000 to help support construction of a recreation center at Katie Bonnell Memorial Park in Livingston. This is just a start, as demonstrated by the significant community efforts we’ve undertaken with our other projects.
Crazy Mountain Ranch will continue to play an important role in the community. We are your neighbors and we want to be good neighbors. We are committed to discussing how we can collaborate with the community to continue to improve this magnificent place.
Sam Byrne is co-founder and managing partner of CrossHarbor Capital Partners, owner of Crazy Mountain Ranch.