Yellowstone: Avoiding Murder and Mayhem with a Conservation Easement

Kayce’s Solution to Save the Ranch: Noble but Fatally Flawed 

In the final episode of Yellowstone, John Dutton’s remaining two children, Beth and Kayce, sell the Yellowstone Ranch to their Broken Rock Indian Reservation neighbors for pennies on the dollar, if the tribe agrees never to sell or divide it. The ranch will become a wilderness area, returned to its native people for eternity. That is a noble ending (pan the sweeping Montana sunset and cue the country music), but unfortunately an unrealistic way to avoid estate taxes.

Don’t get us wrong, we love the idea of returning the land to the tribe, and here at The Conservation Fund, we partner with dozens of tribes across the country to do exactly that kind of work. But in this case, the show got it wrong when they implied the estate taxes could be avoided with this solution. When John died, estate taxes became due — you know the saying … only two things are certain death and taxes. Selling the Yellowstone to the tribe after John’s death does not change that fact. Sadly, if Beth and Kayce sell the ranch for pennies on the dollar after John’s death, then not only would the ranch be gone, but so would some of the potential cash they need to pay those sticky estate taxes. Talk about getting tangled up in the barbed wire. In the off-screen real world, this noble solution wouldn’t work for the Dutton family. But you know what could have saved the Yellowstone?  

A conservation easement. 

What’s a Conservation Easement? 

A conservation easement is like a “Do Not Disturb” sign for the land. It’s a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust (or government agency) that places restrictions on how the land can be used to protect its natural and agricultural values. In return, the landowner is compensated with significant tax breaks and potentially a pile of cash.  

For the Yellowstone, it would have kept the ranch whole, allowing the Duttons to keep cowboying, keep hunting and fishing, keep protecting the land — but no skyscrapers, no strip malls, no golf courses, and definitely no airports. 

Now imagine John Dutton sitting in his lodge, looking at a conservation easement proposal while sipping whiskey, and discussing it with a land trust. He’d probably say something like, “You’re telling me I can keep my ranch exactly how I like it, and the IRS will cut me some slack? And you’ll pay me to keep the property as it is? And no one will have the right to access the ranch, so I can keep out anyone I want to?” 

Yup.  

And John did, actually, make this choice. He placed a conservation easement on the ranch back in Season 4. The plot line where it is magically withdrawn in Season 5 was inaccurate, though deliciously dramatic.  

How a Conservation Easement Could Have Saved the Ranch 

Dutton’s land comes with private property rights, which are like a bundle of sticks. Each stick represents a specific right or privilege that comes with owning property. John can choose what to do with each individual property right stick in that bundle. These property rights include: 

• The right to use the land — for grazing cattle, for conserving wildlife habitat, for maintaining the ranching way of life, for protecting his family’s legacy.  
• The right to conserve or develop the land — to keep it in ranching or subdivide it and build an airport.   
• The right to exclude others (yup, even an easement wouldn’t change how Dutton deals with trespassing motorcycle gangs).  
• The right to sell or transfer the property — to give it away, leave it to heirs (excluding Jamie and including Rip, of course). 
• The right to lease the land — for example, rent it out to a grazing lessee or a hunting outfitter.  

Exercising these rights is John exercising his personal freedom in accordance with his most deeply held values. Throughout the show, John Dutton exhibited unwavering loyalty to the land, every acre of it, no matter the cost. He declared, “This is my home. I made a promise to protect it, and I will.” 

So it’s not surprising that in Season 4 John chooses to restrict the development and subdivision sticks, and keep the land working, through the use of a conservation easement. When John puts the conservation easement on the ranch, he would have been assured to:  

1. Stop developers in their tracks. Market Equities and their endless proposals for airports and subdivisions? Gone. John’s use of a conservation easement enables him to legally restrict the land from being used for anything other than its intended purpose — agriculture, ranching, wildlife habitat, and open space. Imagine the look on Sarah Atwood’s face when she realizes that she wasted all of that time with Jamie. Those billion-dollar development plans are worthless, because John Dutton played the conservation easement card. Priceless. Imagine Beth Dutton defending the easement placed by her father if someone, especially despised brother Jamie, tried to undo it. That person would reap the whirlwind. As Beth infamously declares, “You are the trailer park. I am the tornado.”
   
2. Lock out future betrayers. A conservation easement doesn’t just protect the ranch while John Dutton is alive — it binds future owners too. Betrayers beware. So even if Jamie managed to weasel his way into inheriting part of the ranch, the conservation easement would ensure the land stays protected and intact.
   
3. Gain financial compensation. What about the taxes? John choosing to restrict development of the Yellowstone with a conservation easement reduces the ranch’s value, thereby eliminating or vastly shrinking the estate taxes due at John’s death. John fulfills his lifelong mission while he is alive, he realizes a bunch of tax benefits, and he would likely get paid a significant amount of cash for doing exactly what he wants to do anyway — keep the Yellowstone working. As John said, “Leverage is knowing if someone had all the money in the world, this is what they’d buy.”  The Yellowstone Ranch is priceless and irreplaceable. A conservation easement would enable John to keep it that way and keep it in the family.
   
4. Elicit good public relations for the ranch. John Dutton was elected Governor on a land preservation platform. During his campaign, he tells the crowd that “Montana is seen as the rich man’s plaything. New York’s novelty and California’s toy. Not anymore.” Now imagine him continuing that speech with the announcement that he placed a conservation easement on the Yellowstone. He’d likely be awarded both a belt buckle and a conservation award, all for the same decisive act of protecting Montanan’s ranching heritage and preserving Montana’s landscape in accordance with the State’s proud slogan as the “Last Best Place.” 

The Conservation Fund’s Alternative Ending  

Picture it… 

With the sun setting amid the soaring peaks of Montana’s Big Sky, John Dutton seals the conservation easement deal astride one of Travis Wheatly’s spectacular cutting horses, dramatically culling cows from a herd as he delivers a stirring final soliloquy about land, legacy and sacrifice.  

Beth peels out, gravel churning and dust flying, in her Bentley Continental GT Coupe to record the easement.  

Rip, steely eyed, tips his hat to Dutton, and Kayce breathes that sigh of relief as he realizes that the conservation easement provides him the freedom he has sought his entire life from impossible future ranch decisions.   

John Dutton was right. A conservation easement would have saved the ranch and made their estate tax woes disappear without a visit to the train station. 

But let’s be honest…Taylor Sheridan’s ending was far more entertaining. And, would we have kept tuning in without all that murder and mayhem? Probably not. 

That’s why we’re in the business of conservation, not TV drama.  

Got a ranch to save? The Conservation Fund would love to work with you.