DNRC Files Suit Against Crazy Mountain Ranch Alleging Illegal Water Use
Local sources say Crazy Mountain Ranch has responded to pushback on its golf-course irrigation by trucking hundreds of thousands of gallons of water onto its property
By Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press
Montana’s water rights regulator has filed a lawsuit against Crazy Mountain Ranch, alleging that the private Shields Valley guest ranch has been illegally watering its golf course.
In a 209-page lawsuit, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation argues that Crazy Mountain Ranch “does not have a valid water right” to irrigate the 112-acre golf course it started constructing in 2023. The agency is asking the 6th Judicial District Court in Park County to issue a temporary restraining order halting Crazy Mountain Ranch’s irrigation of approximately 35 acres of golf course turf.
The lawsuit was filed on July 11 — the same day that the agency ordered the ranch to “cease and desist its unlawful irrigation practices,” which DNRC said started in June of 2024. The agency is bringing the courts into the enforcement equation to pursue an injunction against Crazy Mountain Ranch and levy fines against the company. A little-used state law allows regulators or judges to impose fines of up to $1,000 per day against someone using water illegally. Such fines are then deposited into a DNRC account dedicated to enforcement.
The complaint includes a timeline of efforts by Crazy Mountain Ranch to shift how and where it’s using its considerable rights to Rock Creek and Rock Lake water. The lawsuit also contains a dozen complaints neighboring irrigators have filed against Crazy Mountain Ranch, as well as email exchanges between DNRC and Crazy Mountain Ranch’s attorney, Peter Scott. As recently as June 30, Scott wrote in an email to a DNRC enforcement agent that his client would not stop irrigating its golf course “because of the damage that doing so would cause to a complex and costly project that is the subject of prior and pending change applications.”
In complaints filed with the DNRC over the past two months, neighboring irrigators argue that Crazy Mountain Ranch has jeopardized their water rights, many of them more senior, by moving Rock Creek water into a different drainage. In documents included in the lawsuit, Scott disputed this assertion, arguing that there is no adverse impact to other users.
At least one petition filed by a neighboring landowner also alleges that the ranch is “overusing water and won’t shut down when their water right has expired” — a likely reference to Montana laws that give priority to those with the most senior water rights during times of shortage. Another complaint filed by Shields Valley cattle rancher Tim Sundling argues that “failure to act on this illegal water use will set a precedent to all future water uses.”
The 18-hole golf course Crazy Mountain Ranch is constructing is projected to open to the ranch’s members in 2026. Crazy Mountain Ranch, which was sold to a subsidiary of the company that owns the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club in 2021, plans to finish an additional par-3 course in 2027. In a June 25 email to DNRC, Scott noted that those timelines may change since his client has pursued a “pause” on additional sod deliveries. He added that the golf course is irrigated with “state-of-the-art technology that allows the ranch to track and manage water use as conservatively as possible.”
Scott also indicated in that email that Crazy Mountain Ranch may truck up to 110,000 gallons of water per week “from one or more area depots” to keep the sod that’s already planted alive. Hauling that volume of water would require between 15 and 35 round trips per day, he wrote. Scott didn’t immediately respond to Montana Free Press’ questions Tuesday regarding whether the water trucking has begun or where his client would source that volume of water. One-third of the state is in severe or extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Erica Lighthiser, co-director of Park County Environmental Council, said she has reviewed photos taken on July 12 indicating that CMR has already started trucking water onto its property. Lighthiser questioned whether the water transfer is legal given that removals from another basin could adversely affect other water users.
“I can’t imagine that is an OK thing to do — to transfer water from another basin without any kind of process or approvals,” Lighthiser said in a Tuesday conversation with MTFP.
MTFP also reached out to Rich Sarrazin, the water commissioner assigned to ensure that irrigators on Rock Creek aren’t withdrawing more water than they’re entitled to, regarding recent enforcement actions taken against CMR. Sarrazin did not respond by publication time Tuesday.
Other defendants listed on the lawsuit include Big Sky-area developer Lone Mountain Land Co., LMLC Vice President of Development Mike DuCuennois and LMLC Senior Vice President of Accounting Mike Bourret.