Summer 2016_for web

SUMMER 2016

FROM THE FIELD

The acquisition of the C-Bar-B conservation easement was ANNUAL ROUNDUP BARBEQUE
completed in June from the Board of County Commissioners of
Johnson County. The conservation easement, which originally The Annual Roundup BBQ is an opportunity for you to help
closed in 1993, conserves 1,043 acres of important agricultural support our work by becoming a sponsor, attending the
land, wide-open spaces, and yearlong habitat for wildlife in event and bidding on great auction items.
the area. With the transfer, WSGLT will hold and steward the
conservation easement. WSGLT now holds five conservation Our mission never been more important. There are 26 million
easements in Johnson County, and the ranch adds to the acres of private land in Wyoming that produce our food and
234,947 acres of working landscapes that the organization has fiber, sustain local economies, support generations of hard-
conserved in the State. working families, provide our important wildlife habitats,
and nurture a distinctly Western way of life. Experts predict
“The original intentions behind the Johnson County 50-75% of ranches in the West will change hands in the 10-15
Commission were well intentioned when they received the years. Conserving a farm or ranch not only helps ensure it will
C-Bar-B conservation easement. However, Johnson County remain in agriculture, it also conserves and perpetuates our
Government does not have the capacity or resources to manage western values and way of life.
a conservation easement. Today’s transfer to the Wyoming Stock
Growers Land Trust is the appropriate action for the taxpayers Please help us to continue this important work by
of Johnson County and the greater attending this event with your friends and family.
commitment to ensuring open spaces, perpetuity of agriculture
and abundance of wildlife,” said Johnson County Board of • The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust devotes over
Commissioners Chairman Bill Novotny. 4,500 hours a year transacting and stewarding conservation
easements – that’s over 2 full time staff positions
“It has been a pleasure an honor to work with the Gose family,
the staff at Stock Growers Land Trust, Deputy Attorney Crago • The Annual Roundup BBQ is the organization’s largest
and Bob Berger over the past year and half to achieve closure on fundraiser to support these efforts
this matter,” added Commissioner Novotny.
• The Annual Roundup BBQ is an opportunity to visit a
Marty and Steve Gose owners of the C-Bar-B Ranch, said “We conserved property, and to learn more about Ag-land
are proud to be a part of WSGLT, having known several of conservation
directors and members gives us a comfortable feeling, for they
face the same problems as we do in owning a cattle and farming • It is a family friendly event that promotes Wyoming’s
operation as we do in Wyoming, and will help us solve them as ranching culture and heritage
we move along.”
• The Annual Roundup BBQ helps support programs like
The ranch, located northeast of Buffalo, is situated along Clear Ranchland Succession, which seeks a vibrant future for
Creek, and offers outstanding views of the Bighorn Mountain Wyoming agriculture, by providing tools and resources for
Range, along with recognizable points such as Cloud Peak and the next generation of Wyoming Ag-producers
Black Tooth.
• The Annual Roundup BBQ helps support local businesses
Bo Alley, Executive Director of WSGLT stated, “The ranch in the community where the event is held
produces some of the best alfalfa in the region, and the property
is home to a variety of wildlife. The conservation easement fits
well with WSGLT’s mission, and the transaction is the result
of hard work, dedication, and great cooperation between the
Johnson County Board of Commissioners, the Gose Family, and
the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust.”

CLARENDON RANCH RANCH PROFILE

If you take the backroads through Sheridan County you will see long reaching irrigation pivots and wheel lines covering fields of
alfalfa and hay. Pastures are dotted with black and red cattle, and agriculture meets you at every turn. Beyond one of those turns
you will find the Clarendon Ranch.

Dave Clarendon and his wife Jill, ranch outside of Sheridan,
Wyo. The couple own and operate a cow-calf operation. Their
ranch also offers winter ground for horses owned by guest
ranches and outfitters in the area, and they run an outfitting
business themselves.

In December 2007 the Clarendon family turned to the
Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust (“WSGLT”) during their
search to find a conservation option that would allow them
to continue running their operation as they saw fit, while
ensuring that the ranch would remain intact for generations
to come. With that goal in mind, they worked closely with the
WSGLT to craft a conservation easement that fit their specific
needs. Their conservation easement
closed in December of 2009.

Dave has lived in Wyoming since he was 9-years-old and spent Dave and Jill riding.
most of his young adult life working as a ranch hand and Photo supplied by Jill Morrison.
sawmill worker in the Sheridan area until 1985 when he was
able to purchase the first 160 acres of the ranch in an estate sale.

Dave explained how his life as a ranch owner started. “I don’t know how I did it, I don’t know how I had the energy, but I would
come home on weekends and put up hay and feed cows,” Dave said “double feed them on the weekends and go back to living out
of a sheep wagon on the mountain and working, living on next to nothing.”

Dave and Jill have since built up the ranch and pride themselves on selling high quality natural beef. However, the couple worry
about the future of the ranch and the surrounding areas. Subdivisions have been built throughout the area, taking away prime Ag
lands.

Clarendon cattle grazing in early April.
Photo credit Maggie Rux.

“I look at this land and I think that I want to keep it the way it is. Jill and I have begun discussing how to preserve what we have
and pass it on.’” Dave said “We want to leave it better [condition] than how we found it.”
By working with the WSGLT, the Clarendon’s were able to ensure that their ranch would not be lost to development. “They are
not making any more land, there’s more and more people and less and less resources.” Dave explained when discussing why he
would rather have a land payment, than a pickup payment.
Dave is grateful for the experiences the land has given him over the years. From riding the high country and seeing wildlife
in their natural habitat, to watching his children grow up on the ranch, he understands that there is more to a conservation
easement than just preserving land, it is preserving a way of life.
Dave notes, “I think easements are an interesting concept…they can alleviate so many of the problems I see [with] passing
agriculture down to the next generation.” As the nation loses more than 40 acres of farm and ranchland per hour, non-profit Ag
land conservation groups like the WSGLT are working to act as a counterbalance, ensuring the protections necessary to keep lands
in production.
The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust has conserved 234,947 acres of Wyoming Ag land, partnering with 68 families, like
the Clarendon’s. These Ag lands not only produce our food and fiber, they provide some of Wyoming’s most important wildlife
habitats, and they protect our wide-open spaces.

Clarendon easement during the 2015 monitoring season.
Photo credit Andrea Leininger

KURT BUCHOLZ AWARD

Patrick (“Pat”) O’ Toole will be the recipient of the 2016 Kurt Bucholz Conservation Award. Pat and his wife Sharon, together
with their family, manage the Ladder Ranch in the Little Snake Valley on the Wyoming/Colorado border. Pat manages the
rangeland of the Ladder Ranch to produce healthy livestock with optimal genetics, while also ensuring the health of the
landscape, watershed and streams.

Pat is a true proponent of Wyoming conservation efforts and has drawn on the knowledge that he has gained as a steward of
the land, to be a steward of policy. He was a member in the Wyoming House of Representatives and sat on the Select Water
Committee and President’s Western Water Policy Commission. Pat has testified in front of national committees including U.S.
House Resource Committee and the U.S. Senate Energy Committee on issues impacting the agricultural industry.

Currently, Pat presides over the Family Farm Alliance where he speaks about water use and irrigation issues. Pat commented
on being chosen as the Bucholz Award recipient, and on the work that he has done, and continues to do in the area of water
conservation. “Receiving the Bucholz Award is a great honor for me and my family,” Pat said. “It has been said ‘that water is
the new gold.’ It is more than that. Water is life. I have had the great fortune to work with many of Wyoming’s Water Buffalo,
including my friend Kurt Bucholz. Our challenge is to treat our water as the valuable
resource it is for Wyoming’s future.”

The Bucholz Conservation Award is given in memory of the late Dr. Kurt Bucholz DVM,
an early supporter of the WSGLT and rancher from Carbon County. The Bucholz
Award winner encompasses the values and stewardship goals that Kurt exemplified
in his life. Kurt had a unique understanding of water and land issues and worked to
protect the historic water rights that are fundamental to the North Platte Valley. Laura
Bucholz commented on this year’s award. “I am happy to present the award to someone
who is such a strong advocate for conservation on a local, and state level.”

The Bucholz award will be presented at the WSGLT’s 15th Annual Barbeque at the
C-Bar-B Ranch outside of Buffalo, on August 27th. Pat will be presented with a bronze
statue sculpted by the talented Wyoming artist, Jerry Palen.

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