Growing up on a cattle ranch in Gallatin Gateway, Montana provided me with a childhood unlike any other and instilled in me an appreciation for open space. I had endless acres to run around and explore. I got to fish, horseback ride and hike right out my front door. I didn’t fully appreciate what an incredible opportunity this was until it was gone. 

Through a series of unforeseen events my family made the decision to sell the ranch in 2002. The group purchasing the ranch had a comprehensive plan to develop the lower parcels and keep the back two thirds of the property open space with public access for hiking and horseback riding. While shifting the use of the land, it would have protected a large wildlife corridor, as the ranch was surrounded on two sides by another privately owned property under a conservation easement. 

Selling the ranch was not a decision my family made lightly, and the proposed structure of the buyer’s plan gave us comfort that the land we had lived on and worked over the past few decades would continue to be appreciated and protected. Once sold, the new owner’s plan did not make it through the county approval process. Consequently, over the years the entire ranch has been subsequently sold off into smaller parcels. While only a handful of homes have been built to date, there is the potential to build many more. 

This experience is what lead me to be interested in protecting open space. Through my mom and godparent’s work with the Nature Conservancy I learned early on about conservation easements as a tool used to help farmers and ranchers keep their land in active agriculture. From the moment I heard about it, I knew that I somehow wanted to work in that sphere and just had to figure out how. 

The initial plan was to go to law school after undergrad and focus my practice on writing conservation easements. By my senior year I was the treasurer of the Equestrian Team and found I loved working with finances. I knew I had to follow a path that let me work with numbers and continue horseback riding. So after graduation I moved back to Bozeman to be near my old ranch horse, Happy, and enrolled in the MSU accounting program.

After a few years working at a local accounting firm that had the highest percentage of agricultural clients in the valley at the time, it became clear that the accounting lifestyle (read endless tax season) was not for me. I left accounting and soon started working as an executive assistant for our hospital’s foundation office. The job provided me with the work-life balance I desperately needed and I believed I would take my new fundraising skills and eventually work at a land trust – helping conservation from the inside of these organizations. 

I felt great about that plan until one fateful day in September 2017 while I was attending a continuing education class about conservation easements hosted by MALT (Montana Association of Land Trusts). The room was full of accountants, lawyers and real estate agents. I grew up around real estate professionals and knew it would be a great fit for me. But until this day I couldn’t personally justify getting into real estate and contributing to what I saw as the over development of my hometown.

While watching “On the Shoulders of Giants” during the class the idea of using a real estate business to raise funds to support conservation became apparent. One of the subjects in the film suggested that everyone moving to Montana values conservation whether they know it or not, because it’s the open space and opportunities it provides that they’re moving here for. And I knew right then and there what I was going to do. 

I enrolled in real estate school the following week and joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Montana Properties in the spring of 2018. From my very first sale, I have been dedicated to donating 10% of my commissions to local conservation organizations.

I’m leveraging the economic success of the valley to protect its open spaces for the future. I also share as much as I can about our local land trusts and trail systems with clients new to the area.

I’m doing what I love and fulfilling my dream of helping conservation in the best way I know how. 

Sarah Day was the first real estate agent to have her business 2% Certified, in 2020.