Industry News
The Yellowstone Club is a private ski and golf club in Montana right next to Big Sky Ski Resort, that has long been known for its exclusivity. The Yellowstone Club markets itself as the world’s only private ski and golf community, and has long been acknowledged as one of the most private communities in the country. Recently, reports claiming the club has been polluting a local river have surfaced.
The Yellowstone Club didn’t gain its reputation for being very exclusive for nothing, as gaining membership is basically impossible. First, if you want to join the club, you must receive a personal invitation to join before you can even consider building on their 15,000 acres of private Montana land. After receiving an invitation, new members are reportedly expected to pay an initial membership cost of $300,000, then to maintain access to the private resort, annual fees are around $36,000, although those numbers are based on 2014-2015 figures, as membership information today is much more concealed, so those prices have likely greatly appreciated.
After shelling out $300,000 on a membership and thousands more on other miscellaneous fees, such as property owners association payments which will run you at least another $10,000 annually, you’ll then need a place to stay. Real estate in the area ranges anywhere from $6 million to upwards of $30 million, which is another big hit on the wallet. All of these costs are intended to help maintain the exclusivity and day-to-day operations of the club.
The club has a membership capacity of 864 members, a number that seems very arbitrary, which the founder of the club, Tim Blixseth, put into place to guarantee no lines at the lifts. Members are also restricted to only 140 guest days per season, to help perpetuate the private alpine atmosphere that has made the Yellowstone Club so well-known.
The Yellowstone Club has been a hot topic in the skiing community for a long time, but recently reports surfaced claiming that the club is polluting the south fork of the Gallatin River, a tributary of the Missouri River that begins in Yellowstone National Park, according to Cottonwood Environmental Law Center. John Meyer, the executive director of Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, stated that Cottonwood will be going to federal court to pursue a lawsuit against the Yellowstone Club on the Cottonwood Instagram Page.
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center is a small organization based out of the Yellowstone area that has stated its mission to be protecting the people, forests, water, and wildlife of the American West. On September 19, 2022, John Meyer and one of his colleagues, hiked three miles up the Gallatin River to a section that runs through the middle of land owned by the Yellowstone Club to survey the water and ensure that the land was being cared for appropriately. After collecting water samples, which were allegedly determined to be evidence of pollution in the water, Meyer and his colleague were questioned by a police officer who responded to a call made by the head of security at the Yellowstone Club.
Months later, the Yellowstone Club ascertained that Meyer had been taking samples of water on what they believed to be private land, so on March 7, 2023, the Madison County, Montana, District Attorney filed charges against Meyer for criminal trespassing. Following these charges, the court-appointed to the case determined that Meyer was protected by all stream access laws, which maintained that the section of the river Meyer took samples from was not private land, and instead public water which he had the right to be on. All criminal charges filed against Meyer were dropped as a result.
That wasn’t the end for Meyer and the Cottonwood Environmental Law Center though, as Meyer claimed the organization is now going to federal court to sue the Yellowstone Club. Cottonwood is now using the attained samples that supposedly show signs of water pollution, from the day Meyer legally ventured up the Gallatin River, to prosecute the Yellowstone Club in violations of the Clean Water Act.
Although the Yellowstone Club is claimed to be the world’s only private ski and golf resort located in the country’s most scenic mountain sanctuary, the claims Cottonwood Law Center make, appear to paint the Yellowstone Club as poor stewardess’ of the land on which they operate. However, these claims can be somewhat misleading, as the Yellowstone Club has historically been known to make efforts in the direction of protecting the environment. Most recently, the club was approved to use recycled waste water to supply their snowmaking operations, in an effort to promote the health of the Gallatin River.
Another important fact to keep in mind while navigating these allegations, is the fact that Cottonwood Environmental Law Center has its own history of failed litigations against businesses in the Big Sky Community, the geographical area in which the Yellowstone Club operates. In April of 2022, a federal district court unanimously ruled against Cottonwood, in a suit filed against Big Sky County, Montana, in violation of the Clean Water Act.
In another case, very similar to the one currently being mounted against the Yellowstone Club, a U.S. District Judge dismissed a water related lawsuit Cottonwood filed against the Yellowstone Club. The suit was dismissed after the Yellowstone Club motioned to dismiss “for lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim”.
If Cottonwood’s previous litigations and legal ventures are anything to take heed of, the case could go nowhere. However, as of currently, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center still intends to bring the Yellowstone Club to federal court in violations of the Clean Water Act, using samples attained from the Gallatin River that allegedly show proof of water pollution.
