Paradise Valley man has sustainable vision for his land By The Associated Press
LIVINGSTON -- Wade Dokken admires Ted Turner, the flamboyant billionaire environmentalist who has preserved hundreds of thousands of acres of private land in the United States, simply by buying it and banning development.
"But not everybody can be Ted Turner," Dokken said recently as he led a tour of a pretty impressive piece of land he's purchased in Paradise Valley.
So Dokken has another idea, one that hasn't been implemented before in Montana. Dokken's goal is to preserve and enhance most of the 11,000-acre sweep of open meadows, Douglas fir forests, vertical limestone cliffs and aspen stands he owns today. The property south of Livingston, once known as the Bullis Creek Ranch, rises 4,000 feet, from the floor of Paradise Valley to the top of Wineglass Mountain.
The property had a history of good management for decades, and there hasn't been a cow on the place for nine years. Wildlife abounds, including elk, deer, wolves, mountain lions and even an occasional grizzly bear.
No surrender
Dokken's plans call for no surrender on the part of wildlife. He believes he can maintain the wildlife habitat, even while creating a human community of approximately 250 homes, spreading a considerable amount of wealth around the area and making a profit.
He's confident the project will be a model for responsible, sustainable development that can coexist or even enhance wildlife habitat.
He calls the project the Ameya Preserve. Ameya means "boundless" in Sanskrit.
"We can save 10,500 acres by developing 440 acres," he said. "Our goal is to create the most environmentally friendly community in Montana."
Selling homesites is what makes the preservation financially possible, he said. It's not the Ted Turner model, but Dokken said he wants to make it one for developers around the nation.
"How do you use this magnificent resource and serve the needs of the people and protect the resource all at the same time?" he asked. "That's our goal." And for him to succeed, the project must be one that can be replicated. And that means it has to make money.
Doing something different
Much of the rural development in Montana follows a similar pattern: carve up land, often in squares or strips, avoid expenses and meet minimum government requirements. Dokken has assembled a large and expensive team of experts, who have been working for eight months to create something different.
He envisions about 250 homes, a small "village," a chapel, a nature center, an outdoor amphitheater, stables and an observatory. In total, less than 500 acres would be developed.
Most of the rest would be put under conservation easement banning development.
Still, that many houses in a mostly natural area obviously will have some kind of impact on wildlife, said Mike Claffey, a Colorado biologist who is working for Dokken. But plans for the Ameya Preserve call for those impacts to be as small as possible.
"Most developers tell you to do exactly what you have to do," Claffey said. "We're being told to go way beyond what's required. And it's not cheap to do."
Biologist impressed
Tom Lemke, wildlife biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said he's impressed with Dokken's clustering of the houses.
"That's something we've encouraged local developers to do and we've gotten absolutely nowhere," he said.
Houses and traffic are directed away from wildlife wintering and birthing areas. All of the structures will be tucked away, Dokken said, out of sight from the Paradise Valley floor and with size restrictions. Ridgetop houses won't be allowed, nor will off-road vehicles, but there will be miles of walking and riding trails for residents.
Biologists, aquatic specialists and other specialists have identified the most valuable habitat and travel routes, along with archeological sites and likely places for paleontological findings. And the experts have been heeded, Claffey said.
The project has already been delayed at least twice because of wildlife concerns, he said. And all of this is happening before Dokken even presents the project to Park County.
Dokken plans to restore a stream damaged by previous manipulations, put in some ponds and plant thousands of trees.
Half of 1 percent of all initial land sales will go toward a fund dedicated to protecting the open spaces and providing educational projects like resident naturalists and environmental research.
Top-flight help
It's all complicated, but Dokken has hired top-flight help, including well-known landscape designers and architects, engineers, marketing and branding specialists, and a variety of scientists.
"There are not many projects like this in the country, if at all," said Heather Henry, project manager and a landscape architect for Design Studio, an award-winning international planning firm. "He has already dedicated an incredible amount of resources to doing this the right way."
Dokken is confident people are willing to pay top prices for what he is creating.
He's aiming at a different kind of "amenity" buyer: people with wealth and time who are willing to spend both of them interacting with wildlife and nature. People spend lots of money every year on products roughly defined as "lifestyle of health and sustainability."
The trend is big enough there's even a trade group called LOHAS, which says the U.S. marketplace for such items is $230 billion annually. It's the demographic segment sometimes described as "cultural creatives," people with money who avoid ostentatious lifestyles. Lil Erickson has been talking to Dokken about the project. She is executive director of the Corporation for the Northern Rockies, a Livingston-based group that promotes sustainable solutions and lifestyles.
"It's encouraging that he's taken the time to understand the land and wildlife and then decided where to put the development," she said. "It could actually set the standard for what sustainable development is."
Expensive homesites
Dokken said he hasn't yet figured out what the homesites will cost, but they'll be expensive. He also didn't say what he paid for the property, but it was listed for $25 million, and he said there were other bidders, including one party that was looking at a more traditional subdivision of sprawling small acreages.
"That would be worse," Lemke said. "We've got plenty of examples of that." Similar small mountain properties -- good views, wildlife, a semblance of privacy -- have been selling briskly, at prices ranging upwards of $10,000 an acre.
While profit is important, it isn't Dokken's only goal. "We're leaving money on the table," he said.
'A person with other goals'
And development pressures just keep growing. "We all know the development is coming," said Dennis Glick, of the Sonoran Institute, one of the many environmental groups Dokken has consulted as his plans evolve. "Everybody would like to see the whole property preserved. But that didn't happen. It was bought by a person with other goals."
Like others in the local green community, Glick was impressed that Dokken reached out to them early in the process, that he performed such extensive research, finding out how to protect wildlife before he starts digging.
"From what we're used to, this blows everything out of the water," said Jim Barrett, executive director of the Park County Environmental Council. "I have to say, we were impressed."
Still, Barrett, Glick and Erickson all said they're waiting to see further details.
They've all watched or been involved in development debates in the past, and they've seen promises evaporate before.
A certain amount of skepticism is both natural and healthy, according to Doug Chandler, a prominent Bozeman engineer who's been working with Dokken. He, too, has seen broken promises, he said.
"I'm always a skeptic with new clients, but Wade has proven to be pretty consistent," Chandler said. "He doesn't need the money. He's interested in doing something more."
Copyright © 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Published on Sunday, June 04, 2006.
Last modified on 6/4/2006 at 12:06 am
Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
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here we go wrote on June 04, 2006 7:37 AM
I hope the don't mind the wolves and bears eating thier horses and dogs. nothing but bunny huggers trying to build nirvana. Forgot something... wrote on June 04, 2006 9:21 AM
Isn't there a requirement for ...."I am Wade Dokken and I approved this ad." What a bunch of horse pucky. Anyone who admires Ted Turner as a landowner, neighbor or involved citizen is terribly corrupted. Ted Turner is self-absorbed and beware anyone who gets in his way. Who wrote this dribble piece anyway? Famous last words... wrote on June 04, 2006 10:59 AM
"He doesn't need the money" says the prominent Bozeman Engineer Doug Chandler. In fact Dokken is even going to take a whopping "one half of one percent" yes, a whopping "one half of one percent of initial land sales to perserving open spaces (what does that mean?) and and providing educational projects...." Does that sound almost like government double speak for gobbely-gook? According to the author, everybody connected to this project is from "an award winning," "prominent" or "scientific" background it seems of impecable credentials. What could be better and, after all, "He doesn't need the money." CUT member wrote on June 04, 2006 10:20 PM
As long as he doesn't take away our Church Universal Triumphant land. It's all good. God Bless Elizabeth Claire Prophet!
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