The region also is home to the Jonah Natural Gas Field, one of the richest concentrations of natural gas in the U.S. Booming gas exploration in the area has led to increased residential and industrial development, posing a threat to the historic way of life of the Boturs and other ranching families. Offers from developers, combined with the challenges of running a huge ranch, led Freddie Botur’s father to consider selling. If he had, this iconic Western landscape might have been lost forever. Instead, through a first-of-its kind public-private partnership, the Cottonwood Ranches have been conserved, along with the wildlife and ranching values they support.
Our Role
The Conservation Fund, along with the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust (WSGALT), worked with the Botur family for three years to place conservation easements on more than 4,600 acres of their property. Funding for the easements came from the Jonah Interagency Office (JIO), which manages a $24.5 million fund established to mitigate land and wildlife impacts of Jonah Field drilling. The easement on the Cottonwood Ranches was the first to draw on JIO mitigation funds to protect wildlife habitat. Additional funding came from the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, The Nature Conservancy (through a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), and the Wyoming Governor’s Big Game Licenses Coalition. The WSGALT monitors and enforces the easements.
Why This Project Matters
The three easements ensure permanent protection from non-ranching development for prime sage grouse habitat along rivers, lakes and streams, and also improve habitat conditions for a wide variety of wildlife on more than 25,000 acres of adjacent land owned by the Bureau of Land Management.
Thanks to this partnership, Freddie Botur can continue to manage his historic cattle ranch, and has been able to make improvements that include installing pipelines, replacing antiquated headgates, building wildlife-friendly fence, and instituting progressive grazing management techniques that have benefited all species, including his herd. In exchange, the public is now assured that the ranch will stay intact and be available for wildlife and agriculture forever.
“Cottonwood Ranches has been proud to work with the Stock Growers Ag Land Trust and The Conservation Fund to aid in the mitigation of oil and gas impacts in Wyoming for the good of the land, the wildlife and the ranch. As a rancher I am grateful for these efforts to balance the development of our resources with the preservation of the agricultural stewardship that is so important to our communities all across Wyoming.”
—Freddie Botur, owner, Cottonwood Ranches
Carney Ranch Photo by Mark Gocke
Carney Ranch forms the most important piece of what is known as the Funnel Bottleneck in the "Path of the Pronghorn" for pronghorn antelope migrating from as far north as Grand Teton National Park. The property features the only—and the most vulnerable—bottleneck on private lands. In February of 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. The easement prevents future development of the land and ensures its sound management.
Found across the western United States, the sage grouse population has declined by 90 percent over the past century and 70 percent in Wyoming. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges it needs protection; but this bird is no small matter: Listing the sage grouse as a threatened species has big implications, especially in Wyoming where energy development—from gas to wind—is big business. So what can be done? The Fund has worked on several projects, including the protection of Cottonwood Ranches in Wyoming, that ensure the protection of sage grouse habitat. In 2012, we launched the Wyoming Sage Grouse Conservation Campaign to conserve key sage grouse habitat on working ranches statewide.
Small Properties, Big Impact: Bridger-Teton National Forest Photo by Luke Lynch/The Conservation Fund.
In 2013, the Fund helped the USDA add a 37-acre property in central Teton County, known as the Poison Creek property, to the Bridger-Teton National Forest. These acres may not seem like much, but they provide not only critical wildlife habitat, but also a popular trailhead and trail used by hikers and hunters to access the Gros Ventre Wilderness. This image shows the Hoback River on the right and Beaver Mountain in the background.
Saving Working Lands Photo by Mark Gocke, Wyoming Game and Fish Department / www.markgocke.com
Protecting private ranchland is the best hope for conserving the region’s rich wildlife resources. For generations, traditional, large-scale family ranches have occupied most of the Green River Valley’s private lands, sharing the natural wealth with the species that migrate across the landscape’s ancient pathways. In an exciting new effort, ranchers are collaborating with the Fund, public and private partners and community leaders to protect and enhance more than 100,000 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.”
Cottonwood Ranches Photo by Mark Gocke, Wyoming Game & Fish Department
Cottonwood Ranches controls a contiguous block of 90,000 acres from the Wyoming Range in the west to the Green River along Cottonwood Creek. We worked with the owners, the Botur family, to place three conservation easements on their property, thereby preserving a family legacy of cattle ranching.
The Green River Valley sits atop two of the nation’s highest producing natural gas fields and is threatened with resource development—roads, well pads, power lines and residential subdivisions. In 2008, we brokered the first Wyoming conservation real estate deals using dedicated mitigation funds from the Jonah Interagency Office that help offset impacts to wildlife habitat caused by resource development. With the Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust and other partners, we've protected more than 7,450 acres and our work in the area continues.
MJ Ranch Photo by Mark Gocke, Wyoming Game and Fish Department / www.markgocke.com
The Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department identified the family-owned, working ranch known as MJ Ranch, as a top conservation priority. The Fund led the effort to complete the largest purchased conservation easement in the Green River Valley: The easement protects more than 2,000 acres of MJ Ranch, which has 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.
Upper Green River Valley Initiative Photo by Arby Reed/Flickr
With our partners, in 2008 we launched the Upper Green River Valley Initiative to conserve and enhance key wildlife habitat and agricultural lands in this special valley of western Wyoming. Already, this initiative has permanently protected 5,000 acres of private land, including eight miles of Green River tributary frontage, and enhanced more than 85,000 acres of public land.
We are dedicated to conserving the public lands of Wyoming so that wildlife can thrive and people can enjoy the outdoors. To ensure continued public access to the Wind River Mountain Range, shown above at sunset, the Fund and the U.S. Forest Service, with key support from the Wyoming congressional delegation, protected an important 40-acre inholding within the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The property gives the public access to a network of trails leading to the Bridger Wilderness in the foothills of the Wind River Range and is vital to the continuation of hiking, hunting, camping and other outdoor recreational activities in the area.
Cottonwood Ranches Photo by Mark Gocke, Wyoming Game & Fish Department
Cottonwood Ranches controls a contiguous block of 90,000 acres from the Wyoming Range in the west to the Green River along Cottonwood Creek. We worked with the owners, the Botur family, to place three conservation easements on their property, thereby preserving a family legacy of cattle ranching.
Conservation Acquisition
Mitigation Solutions
