Tryg Koch has coaxed countless grain crops from the fertile soils of the Flathead Valley since co-founding a farm services company in 2005.  

Now those same lands are more likely to reap concrete than they are bushels of canola, he said. A field off U.S. 93 that Koch had worked for years was transformed into a big box retail store. Several of Koch’s other clients sold to developers, who chopped up their purchases into 5-acre parcels for upscale subdivisions. 

“We just keep chipping away at these parcels of land. If we don’t do something, there just isn’t going to be that much left,” Koch told a crowd of about 50 people gathered in an auditorium at Flathead Valley Community College on Sept. 10. 

Organized by the Save the Flathead Coalition, a grassroots group that describes itself as a “growing coalition of local residents, agricultural producers, conservation groups and outdoor enthusiasts,” the forum aimed to generate conversation around the rapid pace of urbanization in the valley. Between 2000 and 2021, Flathead County lost 49,120 acres of open space to development, according to a study conducted by Headwaters Economics. 

Koch knows that the transformation of some land is necessary to keep up with the county’s continued population growth, but he believes in the value of open space and working agricultural lands. He wants to preserve those traditions for future generations. 

“We’re not going to protect it all, and I get that,” he said. “Everybody here understands that, but we need to be able to have some tools to protect some of it, so that our grandkids and your grandkids have the same views and are able to get away from the town, come out to the country.” 

Save the Flathead Coalition believes one tool in particular is ripe for public buy-in — literally. The group wants to place a $10 million open space bond on the ballot for the 2028 general election. 

The measure would add an additional 74 cents per $100,000 in home value to county property taxes, according to estimates provided by the coalition. The county could use that money to fund projects that preserve open space — a broad term that the members of the coalition apply to working agricultural lands, forests and parks alike.  

Flathead Land Trust Executive Director and coalition member Paul Travis presented the recent Foys to Blacktail Community Forest Project as an example of the type of initiative that an open space bond could support.  

In April 2026, the land trust purchased 1,131 acres directly south of Herron Park and is now working with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to place the land under a perpetual conservation easement. The terms of the agreement will prevent the land’s conversion into housing or commercial development and ensure continued public access to 12 miles of hiking and biking trails. 

“Those types of projects are really important,” Travis said. “We were able to get it done, up to this point, without a public open land fund, but there’s only so many of those types of projects that we can do.” 

With an open space bond, “we could do so much more,” Travis said. 

Flathead County considered an open space bond in 2008, but the measure failed to pass muster, garnering 47% of the vote. Coalition members noted that the vote corresponded with the Great Recession and suggested tight wallets may have driven some residents to eschew even a small tax bump. 

In December 2025, the coalition contracted with New Bridge Strategy to survey Flathead County residents about their views on an open space bond. Of the 150 people questioned, 49% said they would support a $10 million open space bond while 22% said they opposed the measure. Another 29% said they were unsure. 

When the surveyors provided language about the individual tax burden of the bond, 57% of respondents said they would support the measure, whereas 26% opposed it. 

In other counties, open space bonds have proven exceptionally popular, with support for the measures often reaching across party lines. Ravalli County passed a 20-year, $10 million open space bond in 2006 with 57% of the vote. In 2022, when an identical measure made it onto the county ballot, a staggering 71% of the voters supported the program.  

“It’s a tangible thing that people can see,” Ravalli County Commissioner Dan Huls said. “We hang a little sign on the corner post of land that's been conserved, and that land is visible. It's visible from the highways. It looks the same as it did 20 years ago, 30 years ago.”  

To date, Huls said the county-run open space program has contributed close to $10 million toward projects that conserve nearly 16,000 acres of land, including 1,830 acres that are publicly accessible.  

Much of the bond money has gone toward the conservation of working agricultural lands through easements that prohibit development and parcellation. Landowners interested in establishing an easement can apply to the county for funding to help offset the cost of the required assessments and legal fees. Often, the funds secured from the county can be used as a match for grants distributed through nonprofits and federal programs. 

In 2006, Missoula County voters elected to split a $10 million open space bond between the city and county governments, ensuring some of the funds were directed toward the acquisition and expansion of urban parks. The county re-upped the fund with a $15 million open space bond in 2018. 

Any ballot initiative to introduce an open space bond would require approval from the Flathead County Board of County Commissioners before it went before the voters. So far, the three-person board has been reluctant to field discussions on the proposal, according to retired Land Use Manager for Plum Creek Timber Company and Save the Flathead Coalition member Jerry Sorensen.  

“Everybody bemoans the changes in the valley and the loss of open space and farmland and all of that, but they’ve never wanted to do anything more than that,” he said. 

“I feel that we are at a tipping point,” Sorensen added. “I think we can either move forward and try to get something done now, or I think my grandchildren aren’t going to be able to see wilderness areas or farm activities in this valley.” 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 406-758-4433 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.