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defect. We find that Hoeger's sale 8 is relevant to this
analysis.
Sale 8
Sale 8 represented the December 1994 sale for $695,000 of
approximately 157 acres located on the west side of Glacier
National Park on the North Fork of the Flathead River in Montana.
Hoeger stated that an analysis of this sale by Warren Illi
(Illi), a certified appraiser in Montana, "indicates that the
sale price was not adversely affected by the conservation
easement." Illi testified at trial and was certified as an
expert. Illi has been an appraiser for more than 30 years and
has been involved in the appraisal of "several hundred"
conservation easements. Copies of Illi's appraisal, containing
data related to sale 8, were provided to the Court.
Illi used sale 8 to determine the diminution in value
attributable to a conservation easement's being granted on a
different 40-acre piece of property also located in the North
Fork of the Flathead River in Montana. In stating his rationale
for including sale 8 in his analysis, Illi provided insight into
this case. Recognizing that sale 8 did not fit the historic
trend of diminution of values in Montana, Illi nonetheless stated
that the fact that Sale 8 showed no loss in value "is not
surprising." He went on to explain:
The Forest Service's aggressive program to buy in fee
or encumber all river front lands with conservation
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