Clyde Park -- Crazy Mountain Ranch has filed three applications with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to temporarily lease some of its historic water rights to irrigate its luxury, guest-only golf course under construction.
The move comes after a new bipartisan state law and years of state scrutiny over the ranch’s water use.
CMR Ranch submitted the applications in January, under the newly enacted Montana Water Use Act that allows short-term water leases. The proposed leases would transfer water to The Club at Crazy Mountain Ranch, which operates the private golf club and membership program on about 95 acres of the 18,000-acre ranch in Park County.
CMR said it previously issued a press release to a single reporter at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle announcing these new water-leasing plans, which was published as an op-ed.
The filings follow statements made last fall when MTN News asked the ranch in October about using the newly reinstated leasing law. At that time, representatives said they had “no plans to pursue water leasing in 2025” and were still evaluating the law’s potential impact in future years.
The Montana Water Use Act allows water-right holders to lease water for up to 40 days per year, for as many as five years within a 10-year period.
Supporters, including agricultural groups and conservation organizations such as Montana Trout Unlimited, told MTN News the law gives water users flexibility while still protecting senior water rights holders.
But advocates argue the law was not designed for developments like this.
“The new temporary water leasing law was intended to give water users a tool to share scarce supplies during drought,” said Erica Lighthiser, managing director of the Park County Environmental Council. “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.”
Lighthiser said because the legislation is so new, it remains unclear how DNRC will oversee or implement it.
“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.”
According to the applications, CMR proposes leasing water historically used for irrigation from Rock Creek and Rock Lake. The combined maximum volume would be 325.4 acre-feet, with a maximum flow rate of 3 cubic feet per second.
In 2025, Big Timber’s City Council tightened its water policy, limiting bulk sales to Crazy Mountain Ranch and requiring approval for large transactions, while the City of Boulder continued selling nearly 98,000 gallons of water to a contractor hauling it 117 miles to the luxury development amid public scrutiny.
The leases would allow water diversion during staggered 40-day periods in May and June and would add Rainbow Lake as a storage site.
The ranch has said it would stop irrigating the historic acres tied to those water rights in any year the leased water is used.
In a statement, General Manager David Hardwick said the ranch is taking a “super-conservative approach” to make sure the leases do not affect other water users and would reduce the number of trucks hauling water while the change applications are pending.
DNRC received the applications Jan. 20 and authorized the leases on Feb. 19. Objections are due March 21.
