Montana's Conservation Cowboys: Real Estate Trend Leverages Wide Open Spaces for Eco-Savvy Investors

BOZEMAN, Mont., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- While the allure of playing upscale cowboy remains big in the mountain West, for certain investors true luxury means access to the pristine wide open spaces of preserved land. For this eco-savvy group of "conservation cowboys," conservation easements and strategically placed limited home sites, like those offered by Sun Ranch Group Settlements on ranches near Bozeman and Missoula, Montana, merely sweeten the deal, saving historic ranch land for wildlife, habitat, recreational revelry -- and those coveted unobstructed big-sky views. A forward-looking offshoot of the shared ranch concept, Settlements offer top amenities amid sublime scenery, while acknowledging the land's crucial ecosystem context.

"We're making a serious conservation commitment to Settlement owners for generations to come," says John Hudson, co-founder of Bozeman-based Sun Ranch Group. Adds Sun Ranch owner and fellow Sun Ranch Group co-founder Roger Lang, "Our residents have an opportunity to be part of a grand vision for the American West that's both ecologically and culturally sustaining."

While a number of real estate concerns throughout the Rocky Mountain West are marketing conservation as amenity, Sun Ranch Group is particularly known for applying big ideas to a big landscape -- its market-driven business model combines environment and economics toward an ambitious mission of putting 1 million acres into conservation over the next decade, including on these two Sun Ranch Group Settlements:

• Sun Ranch Settlement (Cameron, MT): A mere 10 home sites on a 26,000-acre conservation easement-protected eco-ranch that's part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Owners get deeded access rights to the entire property and enjoy organic dining, top guides and more at the eco-luxe Lodge at Sun Ranch (www.sunranchlodge.com). Preservation efforts include a fish hatchery for reintroduction of Westslope Cutthroat Trout.
• Schroeder Settlement (Missoula, MT): Fewer than 20 strategically located home sites on 7,000 acres of holistic cattle ranch with guided Bitterroot River fishing, and an extensive river-to-mountain trail system -- all accessible to Missoula's cultural scene. Preserves crucial wildlife corridor between major Montana and Idaho wildlands.

Sun Ranch Group Settlements were recently featured in The New York Times, and Sun Ranch Settlement was named a 2008 Mountain Living magazine "Up & Coming Development." For additional information, visit www.sunranch.com.

Media Contact: Darla Worden, WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations, 307.734.5335, darla@wordenpr.com.