Montana dude ranch seeks water lease for its members-only golf course under new law

The Crazy Mountain Ranch’s proposal to use new legislation to lease water to itself to irrigate an 18-hole and 3-par golf course has gained initial approval from the state.

The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation posted its decision on Feb. 19. That started the clock ticking for Shields River Valley landowners holding water rights. So far no one has objected, but they have until March 21 to file one.

"The ranch has taken a conservative approach under the new water-leasing law to make sure the leases will have no effect on other water users,” David Hardwick, Crazy Mountain Ranch general manager, said in a statement. “The leases also will dramatically reduce the number of trucks needed to haul water while the ranch waits for the state’s decision on requested changes to its water rights.''

Although still under construction, the golf course opened to players last year.

Dude ranch amenity

Boston-based CrossHarbor Capital Partners owns Crazy Mountain Ranch, as well as several properties in the community of Big Sky. CrossHarbor’s subsidiary, Lone Mountain Land Co., purchased the 18,000-acre Park County ranch in 2021.

In addition to the members-only golf course, the private dude ranch includes four-bedroom cottages, a pavilion overlooking a lake, a chapel, spa and fitness center and an events barn, pro shop, clubhouse and locker rooms featuring saunas, hot and cold plunges and lounges.

Unlike its Big Sky properties, which include public hotels and residential developments like the Yellowstone Club, Crazy Mountain Ranch touts its farming and ranching credentials, noting 90% of the property is undeveloped and no residences have been built.

New law

The new water leasing law took effect in October, allowing the ranch to use its own irrigation water while waiting for the DNRC to finish processing the ranch’s change of use applications.

Those changes include using Rainbow Lake to store irrigation water. Right now its only authorized for fish and wildlife, and to apply water to the golf fairways and greens rather than agricultural fields. The water would be sourced from Rock Lake, which the ranch owns.

Crazy Mountain Ranch announced its intention to utilize the rule in a January guest opinion published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

“The water-leasing option has restored much needed flexibility for water right owners who must wait, often for years, to receive a decision on their change applications,” Hardwick wrote.

If approved, the temporary lease will be valid for use over five years to irrigate 85 acres of the golf course and 10 acres of surrounding grassland.

Utilizing three different water rights, each authorized for 40 days, will enable irrigation from April 1 through Nov. 15. The club predicted it would use 325-acre feet of water a year. An acre foot is the amount of water it takes to cover one acre in 1 foot of water.

2025 legislation

The temporary lease Crazy Mountain Ranch is pursuing was made possible by legislation Sen. Sue Vinton, R-Billings, introduced last session. Senate Bill 178 was requested by Senate Majority Whip Barry Usher, R-Billings, at the behest of Helena attorney and lobbyist Jon Metropoulos. His firm includes Jocelyn Galt Cahill, who was involved in revising the bill during its drafting.

Cahill is the sister of Sen. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale. Their family is one of the largest landowners in the state. The family's 71 Ranch LP is the site of a proposed $1.5 billion hydro project that could benefit from a similar temporary lease.

Sen. Galt presided over the bill’s initial hearing as chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. Testifying in favor of the legislation to the committee were the president of the energy company and the Crazy Mountain Ranch’s attorney, Peter Scott.

Galt is married to AshLee Strong whose communications firm works for CrossHarbor Capital, the company that owns Crazy Mountain Ranch.

Popular support

Senate Bill 178 passed by wide margins in the state House and Senate after being amended to ease the concerns of other water rights groups and agricultural lobbyists. As initially written, the measure was too generous in the amount of water that could be leased, they argued.

In the end, conservation groups hailed the legislation for opening the door to leases to keep water in streams during droughts. But Crazy Mountain Ranch’s proposal has the Park County Environmental Council concerned.

“The new temporary water leasing law was intended to give water users a tool to share scarce supplies during drought,” Erica Lighthiser, managing director of PCEC, wrote in an email. “It was envisioned as a way to keep water in our rivers and help working landscapes first. Instead, we’re seeing that same law used as a loophole to water an exclusive private golf course, which is the antithesis of the community and watershed resilience the legislation was intended to create.”

Under the law, anyone who causes the temporary lease to be suspended “with malicious intent” could face misdemeanor charges and a fine up to $500. Lighthiser said this type of legal threat could have a chilling effect on legitimate protests.

“It creates a dangerous precedent if the technical burden of proving an adverse effect is too high and the threat of legal penalties scares off legitimate objectors,” she said. “We need to make sure Montana’s water law serves its original purpose: protecting flows for our rivers, fish, agriculture, and communities, not prioritizing new resort developments and luxury uses."

Sen. Vinton said she was not “real familiar” with the Crazy Mountain Ranch, other than what she had read in news stories.

“I can tell you my intent with the bill was to allow water leases of short duration,” she said. “So if that’s what these folks are wanting to do that would match the intent of the bill.”

The Billings representative called the law a “common-sense approach to being neighborly when someone is in need of temporary use of water.”

Keep on trucking

Although Crazy Mountain Ranch said it could begin irrigating its golf course in April, the ranch’s application noted that irrigation water may be supplemented with trucked in water until the ditch from Rock Lake to Rainbow Lake is free of ice and snow.

The ranch is proposing to use Rainbow Lake to hold up to 12-acre feet of water to feed pumps for the golf course’s sprinklers. During the hottest days of July, ranch officials estimated up to 768,700 gallons of water a day could be used.

Ranch officials called its lease proposal “probably over-conservative” since 763 acres of cropland it previously irrigated near the golf course will not be watered.

Scott Knutson, of Knutson Angus in Clyde Park, said he is still reviewing the details of the lease proposal and the possible impacts it could have on his water rights.

“My priority is simply ensuring that downstream users are not adversely affected and that we have clear information about how this will be monitored and managed,” Knutson wrote in an email.

“If this lease moves forward, I would appreciate greater transparency about the flow of water into and out of Rock Lake,” he added.

Controversial course

Other irrigators, such as Knutson, have been concerned since last spring when ranch officials told some Park County residents the company had been watering its newly installed turf since 2024 without proper state authorization, a violation of the Montana Water Use Act.

After the meeting, downstream water users filed 15 complaints over the ranch’s change of use applications. Then in July the DNRC ordered the company to stop watering and simultaneously filed a complaint in District Court.

Crazy Mountain Ranch’s attorney said it stopped watering the day before the order was issued, and also said the company was asked, not ordered. In its court response to the DNRC’s charges the ranch admitted it had violated Montana water law.

To mend fences, CrossHarbor co-founder Sam Byrne wrote a public apology and met with some of the local landowners.

Into the courts

The court case stalled after the DNRC and Crazy Mountain Ranch negotiated a consent decree. In the decree, ranch officials agreed to not use its irrigation water for the golf course. The company then began buying water and trucking it in from nearby communities like Big Timber and Boulder to water the fairways and greens.

The dispute settled down until September when the DNRC, in a court filing, accused Crazy Mountain Ranch of violating the consent decree after it purchased water from Boulder that came from a well not authorized for commercial sale.

Peter Scott, the attorney representing Crazy Mountain Ranch, wrote in his court reply that nowhere in the consent decree did it state the company needed to make sure its suppliers followed the state’s water laws.

Oral arguments in the dispute are set for March 12 in Park County, according to a ranch spokesman.

This article has been updated to reflect that Sue Vinton is a senator, not a representative.