Cottonwood Ranches Conservation Project

A diverse mix of public and private partners, led by The Conservation Fund, completed a deal that permanently protects 1,042 acres of critical sage grouse habitat on a working cattle ranch southwest of Daniel, Wyoming, and improves habitat conditions on more than 25,000 acres of adjacent land owned by the Bureau of Land Management.

"Mitigating for the gas development and investing in agriculture and the local community is an important venture. This project supports local agriculture and protects one of the unrecognized treasures of Sublette County. We’re pleased to have donated to the effort and to have participated with the good folks at The Conservation Fund."

- Freddie Botur, owner of Cottonwood Ranches

Summary

The Cottonwood Ranches is located southwest of Daniel, Wyoming in the upper Green River Valley. This large, working cattle ranch provides crucial winter and yearlong habitat for mule deer, moose, elk, pronghorn antelope, and sage grouse. The project represents the first use of Jonah Interagency Office (JIO) oil and gas mitigation funds for permanent land conservation.

The Cottonwood Ranch property contains more than four miles of riparian and wetland habitat along Muddy Creek and is completely surrounded by public land. The Wyoming Game & Fish Department selected the site because it contains some of the highest quality sage grouse habitat in the Green River Valley – in a single visit more than 250 sage grouse were observed on the property.

Challenge

Western ranchland is disappearing and with it important wildlife habitat. Partnerships between government agencies, willing ranchers and conservation groups are increasingly important to the future of this habitat.

Solution

The Conservation Fund worked with the Botur family, owners of Cottonwood Ranches, to place a conservation easement on their property, thereby preserving a family legacy of ranching while at the same time protecting critical wildlife habitat. The first phase of this multiphase project on over 90,000 total acres includes 1,040 acres of deeded land and the surrounding 25,000 acres of BLM allotment.

Funding for the easement came from JIO mitigation funds, the Wyoming Wildlife & Natural Resources Trust and The Nature Conservancy, through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for the support of Wyoming’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. The Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust will monitor and enforce the easement.

Long term benefits of this project include:

• Permanent conservation of over 4 miles of riparian habitat along Muddy Creek.
• Enhancement and ongoing monitoring of important sage grouse and pronghorn antelope habitat in a controlled area with the highest wildlife values in southwestern
  Wyoming.

• Simple, cost effective water development project to enhance forage production for sage grouse and other wildlife species in conjunction with the BLM and Trout Unlimited.
• Permanent conservation easement which will require landowner to conduct long-term habitat enhancement and maintenance beyond simple open space protection.