As many folks know, water is vital if you’re a rancher. In fact, Rock Creek helps to irrigate a number of ranches in the Clyde Park area. But in Montana, water is a limited resource. So, what happens when that limited resource is threatened?

Hear from local ranchers about their water concerns - Watch the video now

Clyde Park is a quiet town in Park County that sits at the base of the Crazy Mountains. Phil Gilbert is a rancher in the area. His family has owned this ranch and has run a cattle business since 1902. Which is why Phil is all too familiar with water struggles.

“Have you ever had concerns about water?” I asked. Phil answered, “Oh yeah. Every year. Every year it starts to dry up. Some years it doesn't rain again”.

Phil tells me those concerns grew when Lone Mountain Land Company bought Crazy Mountain Ranch from Marlboro in 2021. To run a private membership experience featuring outdoor and mountain recreation, golf, lodging and more. Phil tells me about Rock Creek.

“There’s 10 water users besides Crazy Mountain. 10 families. 10 ranches, hard-working people, who make it work the best they can. So, you can see why there’s the concern”.

Tensions grew even higher in 2023 when Crazy Mountain Ranch announced they were building an 18-hole, 150-acre golf course. According to landowners in Clyde Park, on May 16th, 2025, representatives from Crazy Mountain Ranch and Lone Mountain Land Company called a meeting with landowners. To announce their plans to irrigate this newly constructed golf course, even though they lacked the legally approved water rights to do so.

“Crazy mountain put the meeting together to kind of soothe our feathers a little bit. But I don’t think that worked very well for them,” says Phil.

At the meeting, it was revealed that the year prior, the golf course was already irrigated. Regardless of not having proper water rights.

“When the rest of us have a project with the DNRC? The Ts are crossed and the I's are dotted before they’ll even let us start. That wasn’t the case with them, they had things well underway,” explained Phil.

Another rancher in the Clyde Park area, Bob Boyd, shares these concerns. “Basically, they said, well, no matter what, we’re still going to water our golf course”.

So, I figured it was time to reach out to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to see why Crazy Mountain Ranch is allowed to irrigate their golf course without proper water rights.

DNRC sent me this statement: “DNRC received two new change applications from Crazy Mountain Ranch. The applications are currently under review to determine if the information is accurate and complete before starting technical analysis.”

They did not provide further details as their statement continues, “The agency has recently received official formal complaints of illegal water use at Crazy Mountain Ranch. DNRC is currently in the investigation process. Due to the investigation process, we are unable to comment further.”

So, I reached out to Crazy Mountain Ranch as well, to hear what they had to say. Their statement reads, “The Crazy Mountain Ranch is diligently managing its water rights through the administrative process and is confident this will not negatively impact the water rights of neighboring landowners.”

But, for Bob, who is a wheat and grain farmer? He is concerned for his water rights. Even more? Water conservation.

“It takes about 2 ½ times as much water for a golf course as it does to irrigate hay, grain, and agricultural products. What's going to happen this year if we get short of water, and they have to water that golf course? If we don’t protect the resources that we have? They’re going to go away,” says Bob.