Carol Bibler — A conservationist at heart and longtime steward to the land

Days before Carol Bibler and her husband Jim Watson headed out on a week-long horse-packing trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Bibler carved out time to talk about her and her husband’s civic and conservation efforts in the community, life on their Spring Brook Ranch, and her hopes for the Flathead Valley.

Born in Calgary where her father, longtime Flathead Valley conservationist and philanthropist Sam Bibler, and wife Jean, were living at the time for Sam’s work as a petroleum geologist, the Bibler family moved to Kalispell in 1966 when Carol was 8 years old. Carol grew up in town in an eastside home a block south of the Conrad Mansion.

“Dad had a big, beautiful garden on that double lot,” Bibler said. “A lot of people in the neighborhood, including the nuns who worked at nearby Kalispell General Hospital, would walk by and enjoy the gardens in the evening.

“It was an idyllic childhood. I could pasture a horse about a mile away on Conrad Drive, then ride my little Stingray bicycle down to the pasture, and hop on my horse,” Bibler said. “My friends and I used to ride our ponies everywhere. It was safe because there just weren’t many people here. It was a great way to grow up.”

Her parents, both products of the Great Depression who grew up in modest homes, had begun growing their well-known art collection while living in Calgary.

“They loved beautiful things,” she said. “They weren’t able to have those kinds of things when they were younger. They started going to antique auctions and collecting antique furniture and art.”

When the family moved to Kalispell, the Biblers saw opportunities for improving the community.

“At the time the Conrad Mansion was caving in. Alicia Conrad Campbell lived in a trailer outside because she couldn’t afford to heat it,” Bibler said.

“Dad joined Rotary and other local businessmen who recognized the mansion was a treasure and should not be allowed to fall apart. They worked together and with Alicia to restore it. That was Dad’s priority — making things more beautiful and preserving the gems in the community.”

A 1976 Flathead High School graduate, Bibler met her future husband at Montana State University in Bozeman — Bibler was working toward a master’s degree in earth science and Watson was pursuing his second bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. They married in 1988 and moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, where Bibler worked about 18 years as a geologist in coal bed methane production and recovery, with short stints in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

When Carol was in college, her parents moved to their home above Foys Lake in 1978 where her father designed, planted and maintained its exquisite gardens.

“Dad loved to garden and they both were invested in the community,” Bibler said. “He never retired, even going into the office up until he died at 86. He had a lot of energy and enjoyed working.”

Bibler and Watson returned to Kalispell in 2001 and, together with a small group of passionate friends, all hikers and horseback riders, began conceiving making permanent a trail corridor between what is now Herron Park and Blacktail Mountain. At the time the land was owned by a variety of private owners, the Forest Service and Plum Creek.

“They wanted to preserve that access,” Bibler said. “That was called the Birch Creek Trail Project and later became the Foys to Blacktail Trail Project.

“Jim started going to their meetings,” she said. “It became apparent that the first step would be to expand Herron Park.”

Bibler was involved with the Foys to Blacktail Trails organization for almost 15 years and Watson is still on the trails committee.

Back in the mid-’90s Sam Bibler had acquired and placed a Montana Land Reliance conservation easement on Spring Brook Ranch, the 1,000 acre property Bibler and Watson live on.

In 2003, Bibler was asked to join the board of the Montana Land Reliance, serving until 2016.

“The Montana Land Reliance protects agricultural lands and ensures those lands will always be agriculturally productive and be excellent habitat for wildlife,” Bibler said. “They preserve working lands. It’s very important to protect our mountains, but also important to protect our working lands. That benefits both the people who rely on them for food and the wildlife that rely on that habitat.”

Both Bibler and Watson won Flathead Audubon’s Conservation Achievement Award in 2015 for their stewardship and conservation work on their land and in the Flathead to preserve wildlife habitat.

In 2019, they were awarded the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce’s Great Chief Award for their work to preserve the Flathead Valley’s unique beauty and character.

The couple works hard to protect their ranch from noxious weeds for both their own herd of 60 Tibetan yak, which they raise for breeding stock, fiber and meat, as well as for grazing elk and deer. One of their primary goals on their timberland is proper forest management and creating a healthy forest beneficial to wildlife.

About four years ago they sold the bison herd they’d been raising for meat; both herds initially started by and greatly enjoyed by Sam Bibler.

While Bibler isn’t directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the ranch — “I tell people that a day on the ranch for me is I just clean up after Jim,” she joked — the ranch is managed by her husband and their ranch manager Christy Novak.

The yak meat is sold to select area restaurants and markets, as well as direct to individual customers for larger orders.

Through the Bibler Garden Tours scheduled every spring and summer, Bibler and Watson have supported the FVCC Foundation, which supports Flathead Valley Community College scholarships, programs and facilities, since about 2004. Her parents started offering garden tours in the 1980s, at that time to raise money for the Conrad Mansion.

Bibler is also a longtime member of P.E.O., the 150-year-old international organization that helps women pursue their higher education goals. She says she was also privileged to serve on the board of the Montana Conservation Corps from 2016 until earlier this year, an organization that engages young people in stewardship of public lands through service projects.

Bibler says she hopes to continue to work to create a more beautiful valley that residents and visitors can enjoy well into the future.

“It’s going to require coming together, good leadership, and people to recognize that open landscapes and strong institutions are things our community and visitors rely on. We need to maintain those to keep our quality of life and make it an attractive place people will still want to visit,” she said. “We’re so grateful to live here. During the years I was away in college and working I really just wanted to get back. We feel very fortunate to have attained that goal.”