Milton Ranch Restoration: A Case Study for Successful Collaboration

Milton Ranch Restoration: A Case Study for Successful Collaboration

Aug 14, 2024

There are many benefits that come from the restoration of prairie systems. And collaboration is key to making it happen.

Growing up, Bill Milton split his time between the Bay Area and his father's ranch near Helena, Montana. After his father passed away, he wandered around for a time, before returning to Montana. In 1978, Bill and his wife Dana bought a ranch, now known as Milton Ranch, just north of Roundup, Montana. The Milton's made a home on the ranch where they raised their three children.

Milton Ranch is 15,000 acres, and sits within the largest intact grassland ecosystem in the world. The grasslands are home to antelope, deer, elk, and prairie dogs. Many birds visit the ranch as well, including ducks and geese, white pelicans and cormorants, and bird species of concern like the Sprague's pipit. While some of the land was previously farmed, a majority of those fields have since been returned to native grasses, and the Milton's continue to do the same to the remaining non-native fields. Over 400 cow-calf pairs graze on the grasses. About two thirds of the Milton ranch is deeded land, and the remaining third is leased from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the State of Montana.

When asked about his favorite time to be on the land, Bill Milton shared, "All the time. I love early mornings, and all the different lights at different times of the day. When you work on land, there is an interdependence going on. Over the years you see how the grasses and animals change. When you are here for a long time, you pick up on those differences and see subtleties that someone who just showed up wouldn't notice."

Bill and Dana Milton at the ranch
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The Milton's take a holistic approach to land management, recognizing the positive relationship that is possible between cows and the landscape they live on. This holistic approach involves moving the cows frequently, often daily, to provide short but intense grazing periods to the cows and long recovery periods to the grasslands.

Close to ten miles of ephemeral stream runs through the center of Milton Ranch. The creek is an unnamed tributary of Willow Creek, and a part of the Musselshell Watershed. The Milton's understand that rivers do not stop at fence lines or jurisdictional boundaries, and that land management shouldn't either. To better steward their ranch, the Milton family is teaming up with the BLM, National Wildlife Federation (NWF), and Anabranch Solutions, a small riverscape restoration business, to carry out restoration on the creek.

Due to the holistic management techniques already in practice on the ranch, the riparian areas are in fairly good shape. To help maintain the health of the riparian areas, they are not grazed during peak growing season more than once every four years. That gives riparian vegetation three out of every four years to build root mass and take advantage of available moisture. However, there is still an opportunity to improve the health of these riparian areas. As central Montana becomes more arid, conserving water resources is an important part of maintaining resilience.

Shelby Weigand, senior coordinator for riparian connectivity at NWF said "although Milton Ranch experienced intense grazing and stream modification in the past, due to improved grazing practices, it is on an upward trend. We want to continue that upward movement."

The creek is a tributary of Willow Creek, and a part of the Musselshell watershed.

To help maintain water resources and increase resilience, partners are working to restore the creek on Milton Ranch. The goal of the restoration project is to connect the floodplain, maintain flows in the creek later into the year, and improve native vegetation along the creek. The project will involve installing beaver dam analogs, and post-assisted log structures, which cause water to slow down and spread out. Partners will also plant woody vegetation such as buffaloberry, chokecherry, and willow, that will be fenced in so the plants can be used as seed or rhizome banks.

While some of the work will happen on Milton Ranch, it will also improve the creek on BLM and State of Montana owned land. Shane Trautner, rangeland management specialist for the BLM field office in Billings, has worked on previous stewardship projects with the Miltons, and he is pleased to be partnering with them again. Trautner was tasked with collecting woody material to use for the structures. He is collaborating with BLM's hazardous fuels crews to get woody material from thinning projects in the area. Some of the material will come from the Milton Ranch, and the remainder will be sourced twenty miles west of the site. Materials will be collected and staged close to the date of implementation, so they are malleable and easy to build with.

During project implementation, NWF will be hosting a workshop to discuss the benefits of restoration in prairie systems. Weigand and Trautner hope that while the Milton Ranch may be the starting point for restoration in the Musselshell Watershed, it can also be a catalyst for future projects.

The grasslands on Milton Ranch, pictured here, have been returned to native seed.

"This is about more than just Bill's place," said Trautner. "Ultimately the goal is to expand and use collective resources to keep building and fine tuning from here. I want to document real change in the watershed."

Bill Milton agrees, noting that "these restoration projects are good for everybody. It is good for ranchers to have partnerships and organizations to tell a good story to increase appreciation for ranching and how it can be beneficial for landscapes. Collaboration is our superpower."

About the Author

Rose Vejvoda is a graduate student at Northern Arizona University, where she is a candidate for a Professional Master of Science in Climate Science and Solutions, and a graduate certificate in Greenhouse Gas Accounting. Rose received her undergraduate degree from Montana State University where she studied English Writing, and Sustainability Studies. She has a passion for using effective storytelling to build relationships, uplift local communities, and help people feel connected to the natural world. Rose wrote this story while she was a Freshwater Ecosystems Intern at Natural Resources Defense Council working with BLM.

Rose Vejvoda, Intern