Joe and Kathy Kipp's Sacred Land: Partnering with USDA NRCS Montana for Sustainable Ranching

Watch their story on YouTube: Conservation for the Future: Sustainable Ranching on Sacred Land, Glacier County, MT

“The ground was pretty poor and the water nonexistent,” Joe recalls, explaining how they had inherited a “dustbowl” along with some old, outdated water systems that couldn’t be used.

Undeterred, the Kipps reached out to the NRCS as well as the Blackfeet Nation for assistance. With their help, they were able to install stock water systems and cross fencing over time. These additions, along with a grazing plan, have transformed the land, which now serves as a productive summer pasture. The first project completed was to establish boundary fencing around the property so that Kathy and Joe could keep stray cattle from grazing their land. Water is scarce in the area, so the installation of cross-fencing also required water developments to be set up. All of these improvements collectively support rotational grazing across the four pastures on their property.
 
In 2017, NRCS Civil Engineer Meagan Heinen began collaborating with the Kipps, alongside NRCS Area Resource Conservationist Stacy Denny Eneboe and local field office staff. Together, they prioritized critical issues such as water scarcity and grass growth, aiming to foster resilience, even in challenging circumstances like the Category 3 drought experienced in 2022.

Preserving Sacred Lands

For Joe, also known as Kyiyo Tokon (Bear Head), the land holds immense spiritual and ancestral significance. As a fourth-generation survivor of the Bear River/Marias River Massacre, his connection to the Blackfeet People's history and cultural heritage is deeply rooted. 

During World War II, a society known as the War Mothers was formed, which he says provided a place for people with loved ones serving in the military overseas to bring offerings. Periodically, the women would gather these offerings and transport them in a wagon to a butte, indicated by Joe as a ridge in the distance. At the top of the butte, there was a special place where they would fast and pray.

“It was a very sacred spot,” he says, “there’s sacred sites all over.” 

The Kipps' dedication to maintaining and nurturing this sacred land runs deep, reflecting a commitment to preserving their heritage and the environment, while keeping in mind future generations, including Joe and Kathy’s children and grandchildren.

Maintaining tribal owned property has not always been easy. Pointing out the sheer expanse of the land with such limited access to resources, Kathy describes the hardships previous Blackfeet members faced here.

“Back then they did everything on horseback. How could you survive on this and go and get groceries in town? How are you going to go and get to a job,” she questions. “You’d have to leave and go somewhere and maybe come back on the weekend. It was just almost impossible.”

At one point, it had become impossible for the former Blackfeet family who had worked the land here.

“Actually, the place we’re at now,” she says, “they are ancestors of Joe’s.” His family had owed a grocery bill in town at a local mercantile. Unable to pay it, the store owner took their land.
 
“The land is lost in different ways just because people are trying to survive,” she says.

It’s understandable then, why their cattle operation is so incredibly important to the Kipps who feel a sense of responsibility to make sure the land remains within their family and the Blackfeet Nation. 
 

Water Development

Although they’ve made great strides in improving the land, one major concern that remains is access to water for their cattle. Recognizing the need for sustainable water sources, the Kipps have worked closely with NRCS to address water scarcity on their property. 

This is especially important as Joe and Kathy hope to increase the amount of cattle they run.

Previously installed spring developments were found to be low producing and snowmelt fed, according to Heinen, who joined forces with the Kipps about six years ago. 

“Depending on the snowpack, they could be dry by the end of July,” Heinen says.

Through the NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), a water well and a solar pumping plant were installed in 2018.  

In 2021, the Kipp’s began an additional project. “We were finding out the water wasn’t keeping up with what the grass could support,” says Heinen. “Our goal was to help them look into how we could improve water distribution and water quantity and work towards them being able to completely use their rotational pasture setup in the most effective manner.” 

They’ve found the solar pumping plant has allowed for more efficient and effective water distribution through a gravity-fed system, ensuring water availability in various pastures while reducing energy consumption.

“Without power nearby, we’ve had to rely on solar capacity,” says Heinen who explains that to prepare for cloudy weather when solar production isn’t optimum, they store at least three days of water needs in a buried storage tank.
 
The Kipps have also used the terrain’s hills and elevation to their benefit, pumping the water uphill. “When the sun’s out, it’s doing the work of lifting the water. And when the sun’s not out, we’ve stored that water at a higher elevation which creates on-demand pressure to service drinking tanks downhill, so the buried storage tank becomes our system supply and they’re replenished by the pump when it can run,” Heinen says.

For Heinen, the ideal scenario would be to have a reliable water supply where and when it’s needed. “We’re trying to increase that flexibility which increases their bottom line and increases the health and productivity of the land,” she says. “It’s really one of NRCS’s goals of protecting and enhancing the natural resources and intersecting with the producer’s goals.” 

“This is to help us be sustainable,” Joe explains. “It gives us a leg up on the environment to be able to collect this water and disperse it to the cattle as needed.” Their cattle will drink out of the tank before they drink out of a spring, because it is colder, fresher, and they don’t have to walk over marshy ground.

“Cows are just like people,” adds Kathy, explaining how the cows preferred going where the grass was greener. Prior to installing the water systems, they had to move their minerals and salt around to get their cattle to graze areas further from water, so other areas could recover. Now, with the help of rotational grazing thanks to cross fencing and the new water systems, Kathy says the pastures recover a lot faster. 

“You don’t see it grazed out around the water holes and the well spots.”

Joe and Kathy have engaged in the NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) for five years, which has helped them take their management up a notch and include practices from rotational grazing, manure sampling and analysis, taking photographs to monitor restored grasslands, fencing, and water management.

“It’s helped us to be able to protect the land in the long run because we are taking better care of it.”  

Sharing Their Practices with the Community

The Kipp’s holistic approach aligns with their deep respect for nature and their ancestral traditions.

“To be a good role model in our community, you can’t preach,” Joe says. Instead, they are hoping the results their neighbors are seeing will speak for themselves.

But their commitment extends beyond the needs of running cattle. They recognize the importance of preserving the land for the diverse wildlife that depend on it, like the elk, antelope, sharp-tailed grouse, and bears. 

The Kipps have also been seeing a surplus in plant growth, like beautiful purple crocus, buttercups, sunflowers, shooting stars, and a variety of sagebrush vegetation. Kathy often gathers plants when she’s out riding that can be made into medicines they use throughout the year. She loves working the land and seeing how it’s improved in the last several years. “I believe that the land is native land, and we need to take care of it because it’s taken care of us,” she says.  
 

More Information

High resolution photos of this project.
For more information about NRCS conservation technical assistance, contact your local USDA service center.