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LandCAN Conservation Success Stories

LandCAN Conservation Success Stories

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LandCAN Conservation Success Stories

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Half Circle Cross Ranch

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For Colby and McKenzie Pace, raising beef cattle includes keeping a sharp eye on preventing overgrazing and noxious weeds and seeking out ways to improve their land for nesting and migrating shorebirds.  This forward-thinking approach to livestock and wildlife management earned the Coalville couple — and their Half Circle Cross Ranch — the 2020 Utah Leopold Conservation Award.



 

Sommers Ranch

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Sommers RanchThe Sommers family has been ranching cattle in Sublette County, Wyoming since 1907 when Albert “Prof” Sommers and his brother, Pearl, established the ranch.



 

SR Cattle Company

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SR Cattle CompanyIn 1882, the Kane family patriarch, Philip Kane, staked his claim to 320 acres at the base of the Big Horn Mountains along Big Goose Creek. The ranch has undergone a lot of changes over the years, growing into roughly 30,320 acres and running about 1100 cows and 240 yearling replacement heifers. The fourth generation ranch is currently owned and managed by David and his wife Terri, and will be shepherded into the fifth generation by their son Nate.



 

Padlock Ranch

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Padlock RanchHomer and Mildred Scott started Padlock Ranch in 1943 with 300 cows and 3000 acres purchased in the Dayton, Wyoming area. Little did they know the ranch would grow to run 11,000 head of cattle on approximately 475,000 acres straddling the Wyoming/Montana state line.



 

Pape Ranches

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Pape RanchesNorm Pape will tell you that family is the most important factor in the success of Pape Ranches. The operation is run entirely by Norm and Barbara Pape and their sons, David and Fred, and their families.



 

King Ranch

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King RanchThe century-old King Ranch sits just outside of Cheyenne. After the passing of one of the ranch owners, the ranch management was left in the hands of Mark Eisele, who has worked on the ranch since the 1970s. Today, Mark, along with his wife Trudy and their family, proudly carry on the ranching tradition at King Ranch.



 

Garrett Ranch

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Garrett RanchUsing the money from the sale of his Texaco gas station in 1937, Labon Garrett, along with his father and grandfather, Henry and Adron, purchased the first 2,000 acres of Garrett Ranch. The ranch now belongs to Pete, Labon’s son, and Pete’s wife, Ethel, who manage the ranch activities with their children and grandchildren.  



 

Golden Willow Ranch

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Golden Willow RanchThe 2007 Leopold Conservation Award for Wyoming is presented to Paul and Catherine Kukowski and their family. The Kukowskis run more than 800 head of cattle on their 20,000-acre Golden Willow Ranch in Sheridan County.



 

Fieldgrove Ranch

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Fieldgrove RanchRyan and Teresa Fieldgrove’s ranch, located near Buffalo, is a cow/calf range operation consisting of over 10,000 acres of deeded and leased land. Ryan Fieldgrove’s family has ranched in the area for over 125 years with his children representing the fifth generation to be involved. The Fieldgroves place a high value on passing a land ethic on to their children.



 

Foy Ranch

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Foy RanchThree generations of Foys keep Foy Ranch running at a high level. Rocky and Nancy, their children, Josh, Emily, and Paul, and Rocky’s parents, Leo and Ann, all pitch in to make the ranch a success.



 

Treadwell Brady Ranch

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Treadwell Brady RanchThe Treadwell Brady Ranch implements all five of famed conservationist Aldo Leopold’s essential tools: axe, cow, plow, fire and gun. Efforts include habitat management, erosion control, supplemental food, water and shelter for wildlife, predator control, and wildlife population surveys.



 

H.A. Farms

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H.A. FarmsDennis Stowell was president and CEO of H.A. Farms Inc. from 1980 until 2011. The sheep and cattle operation totals nearly 3000 acres of private land and is also comprised of forest and BLM permits for sheep and cattle in Parowan, Utah. Dennis and his wife Marilee took over the business from Marilee’s father, Harvey Adams, for whom the operation is named.

The family’s roots run deep in this part of Utah. Ancestors started ranching in Parowan in the 1850s, and descendants have been farming and ranching in the same valley ever since.



 

The BigWoods on the Trinity

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The BigWoods on the TrinityDr. Robert McFarlane spent his youth hunting and fishing the lands and waters of the Middle Trinity River near Tennessee Colony. Those memories of the land stayed with him when he left for medical school at Harvard. When he returned, he saw a different landscape. It was fragmented, converted to pasture and farmland, and significantly different from the pristine land he remembered.



 

Ercanbrack Livestock

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Ercanbrack LivestockErcanbrack Livestock’s story began amid the Great Depression with a hearty handshake and $12 an acre on the front steps of the Summit County Courthouse. Since then, four generations of ranchers have ridden the same trails and shared a passion for the land. 



 

Temple Ranch

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Temple RanchArthur “Buddy” Temple purchased Temple Ranch, near Lufkin, in 1992. Since that time, Buddy and Ellen Temple, along with ranch operators, Robert and Jenny Sanders, have introduced many beneficial conservation practices.



 

Della Ranches

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Della RanchesBrothers Blaine, Brent, and Jay Tanner and their families represent the fifth and sixth generations and over 130 years of Tanners ranching in the Grouse Creek valley in Box Elder County. Della Ranches is comprised of 17,000 acres of private land and an additional 175,000 acres that is managed through state and federal grazing permits, giving the Tanners responsibility for conservation efforts on 192,000 acres of grazing and farmland.



 

Circle Bar Ranch

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Circle Bar RanchThomas Jefferson Thurston was the first known European man to consider permanently settling the Weber River Valley in what is now known today as Morgan County. When Thomas saw Morgan Valley for the first time, he was immediately drawn to its green hills, which reminded him of his Ohio home. He and his family cleared the area and settled the land that is now Circle Bar Ranch.



 

Barlow Livestock Inc.

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Barlow Livestock Inc.Barlow Livestock Inc. is a family owned and operated ranch located twenty miles west of Gillette. It was started in 1898 by L.H. Barlow who, as a 14-year-old boy, left home and settled in the Gillette area. Barlow Livestock Inc. is owned by Glenn and Joy Barlow, who operate the ranch with Glenn's mother, Gertrude, and their children, Duce and Trey.



 

Meuer Farm

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Meuer FarmDavid Meuer considers himself lucky to have been introduced to conservation practices through his father, who saw value in investing in the health of the land. When David purchased his own land and took over his father’s farm, he continued to uphold the conservation ethic his dad instilled in him.



 

Terry Peters

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Terry PetersTerry Peters is a fourth generation timber harvester and timberland owners with more than 3,000 acres in northern Wisconsin. He got his start by following his father, Howard, on logging jobs as often as he could. Peters also spent time working in his grandfather’s sawmill. Like his grandfather and father, Peters has passed the timber tradition along to three of his sons: Cody, Corey, and Jamie. As Howard Peters says, the family has “sawdust in the blood.