Upper Green River Valley Initiative

The Conservation Fund and a host of partners launched the Upper Green River Valley Initiative in 2008 to conserve and enhance key wildlife habitat and agricultural lands in the region. To date, we have worked with numerous public and private partners to conserve nearly 20,000 acres of private land and enhance more than 90,000 acres of public lands, including key migration routes, miles of river frontage, sage grouse habitat and crucial winter range for moose, elk, mule deer and pronghorn.

Flanked by the Wyoming and Wind River Ranges, the Upper Green River Valley forms the southern core of the world’s most intact temperate ecosystem—the Greater Yellowstone. For over 7,000 years, Pronghorn antelope, elk, Shiras moose, and mule deer have navigated the Valley’s unique topography every season. The Valley is home to the “Path of the Pronghorn,” the longest land mammal migration in the continental United States, stretching from Grand Teton National Park south to winter range in the Red Desert, a distance of over 200 miles. Yet due to its unparalleled natural resources, the Valley and its wildlife are now in peril.

An Ecosystem on the Edge

For generations, traditional, large-scale family ranches have comprised most of the Green River Valley’s private lands, sharing the natural wealth with the species that migrate across the landscape’s ancient pathways. But the Valley also sits atop two of the nation’s highest-producing natural gas fields and is threatened with the full trappings of resource development—roads, well pads, power lines and residential subdivisions.

A swath of wide-open private ranchlands in the Valley is the last best hope for conserving the region’s rich wildlife resources. As part of the Upper Green River Valley Initiative, ranchers are collaborating with the Fund, public and private partners, and community leaders to protect and enhance more than 150,000 acres and preserve Wyoming’s unique wildlife habitat and traditional ranching economy. These ranches have been selected for their top wildlife habitat and include some of the most important bottlenecks on the “Path of the Pronghorn” and critical sage grouse habitat.

Projects

McNeel Ranch: The McNeel family ranch property, located near Daniel, Wyoming, contains two active breeding grounds for the sage grouse and an established antelope migration corridor. It also provides crucial winter range for mule deer and important yearlong habitat for elk, moose and more than 60 of Wyoming’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need.

The Conservation Fund negotiated the terms and the purchase of an easement with Bob McNeel and Eva and Lee Kelly, the family that owns and operates the ranch. “This great partnership with Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust and the Jonah Interagency Office fosters a greater understanding and cooperation between agricultural and conservation communities,” said Luke Lynch, Wyoming state director for The Conservation Fund. “We’ve covered so much ground together in the past few years and have made a real difference in the habitat quality of the Upper Green River Valley, while at the same time preserving Wyoming’s strong legacy of family ranching.” (Read the news release for more information about all of the partners that made this project possible.)

Carney Ranch (CRC Ranch): Carney Ranch forms the most important piece of the Path of the Pronghorn’s “Funnel Bottleneck” for pronghorn antelope migrating from as far north as Grand Teton National Park. The property features the only bottleneck occurring on private lands—and the most vulnerable.

In 2010, the Fund announced the completion of a conservation easement that protects the northernmost 2,400 acres of Carney Ranch, located at the head of the Upper Green River Valley in Sublette County, by preventing future development of the land and ensuring its sound management. We purchased the easement from the Carney family, which will continue to own the land and operate it as a working ranch as it has since 1963.

“This project protects the pronghorn and a working cattle ranch—two icons of the American West,” said Luke Lynch, Wyoming state director for The Conservation Fund. “The Carney Ranch and the entire Upper Green River Valley boast some of the highest quality habitat and open space in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and we thank the numerous partners for continuing to support the conservation of this important landscape for future generations. The Carney family made a significant donation to make this possible—we applaud the three generations of family members for their major commitment to conservation.”

The Conservation Fund purchased the easement using funding from the Acres for America program, a partnership established between Walmart Stores, Inc. and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Jonah Interagency Office (JIO), Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative, the Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resources Trust and The Nature Conservancy, through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, provided additional funding for the easement. In addition, the landowners made a significant donation to the project.

MJ Ranch: The Conservation Fund led the effort, in collaboration with several public and private partners, to complete the largest purchased conservation easement in the Green River valley of Wyoming. The easement protects more than 2,000 acres of a family-owned working ranch, known as the MJ Ranch, located southeast of Boulder.

The easement protects sagebrush grassland habitat ideal for a variety of wildlife, including sage grouse, pronghorn antelope, burrowing owl, mountain plover, pygmy rabbit, sage sparrow and white-tailed prairie dog. The ranch also borders critical moose winter habitat along the East Fork River.

The Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office (JIO), established to mitigate impacts of oil and gas development on the nearby Jonah Field, along with the Wyoming Game & Fish Department identified the MJ Ranch as a top conservation priority.

The Fund pioneered the use of JIO oil and gas mitigation funds for land conservation earlier this year with the purchase of a conservation easement on more than 1,000 acres of a working ranch near Daniel known as the Cottonwood Ranches.

Cottonwood Ranches: The Cottonwood Ranches controls a contiguous block of 90,000 acres extending from the Wyoming Range in the west to the Green River along Cottonwood Creek. This large, working cattle ranch provides high quality, year-round wildlife habitat for Shiras Moose, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, and many migratory bird species. The first two phases of this project were completed in 2008 and 2009, and protected over 2,800 acres of deeded land and are enhancing approximately 30,000 acres of adjacent public land. A third phase was completed in June of 2010, protecting an additional 1,800 acres, including over 8 miles of Cottonwood Creek frontage.

Click here to learn more about our work at Cottonwood Ranches