Landowner of the Year

A cow/calf cattle operation where Willow Creek meets the Wind River east of Crowheart. The Buline Ranch is home to mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain lion, elk, moose, black and grizzly bears, pronghorn, wolves, waterfowl and many other nongame species.

The Bulines are active land stewards by making improvements on their deeded ranch and leased public land pastures that benefit wildlife. Those improvements include fence modifications, water storage improvements and riparian protection. The Bulines also helped reconstruct fences that were damaged during the Lava Mountain Fire on the Shoshone National Forest in 2016.

The family allows access to private land for hunting of deer, elk, geese and pronghorn. It donates money from landowner coupons from each hunter to the Wyoming Animal Damage Management Board. The Bulines continually work with Game and Fish and others to promote good land management practices, resolve wildlife conflicts and enhance relationships.

  

Located about 13 miles northwest of Encampment and adjacent to the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. The Taylors have improved the property for wildlife since they purchased the ranch in 2011. Peter Taylor is involved with the Platte Valley Mule Deer Initiative and Platte Valley Habitat Partnership processes, and has approached Game and Fish about working together on habitat improvement projects. The family is a part of cheatgrass treatments in the Upper Spring Creek drainage, and have allowed Game and Fish to conduct several mixed mountain shrub mowing in critical deer and elk habitat, and participated in conifer encroachment removal in important aspen communities on the ranch.

Peter Taylor is an avid sportsman and conservationist, and has alerted Game and Fish personnel to law enforcement issues on and around the ranch.

The Double Four Ranch headquarters lies within the majestic North Laramie River Canyon and is operated by Wayne Larson and Brandon Munn. The ranch, which encompasses more than 45,000 deeded acres, has played an integral part in wildlife con-servation since 1957, when it was first purchased. Through droughts, floods and major wildfires, the Double Four Ranch has managed to persevere through the hardest of conditions and al-ways makes sure wildlife remains an important part of their long-term management goals. 

The ranch has been instrumental in helping numerous bighorn sheep hunters secure access to Pine and Split Rock Mountains, as they make their once in a lifetime hunt a reality. Since 2015, the ranch has enrolled 9,140 acres of access for antlerless elk harvest in Hunt Area 7.   This work for public access has been vital to the Department in our long-range goal of reducing this herd towards the population objective.  

The ranch has been very active in assisting the Laramie Region’s fisheries biologists to monitor and as-sess water quality conditions after the 2017 Arapahoe wild fire, to determine suitability for re-stocking. They have also be instrumental in the recovery of the Hornyhead Chub (nongame fish species) by allowing the Department to transplant this important native fish from the Laramie River back 
into the North Laramie River. 

The Double JR Ranch consists of parcels along the banks of Prairie Dog Creek east of Sheridan and near the head of the Middle Fork of Crazy Woman Creek in Johnson County.

Wildlife and habitat are flourishing under the Ruebs stewardship. They operate a conservative grazing system for livestock, and the ranch has numerous sloped wetland which are becoming harder to find in the Bighorn Mountains due to grazing pressure. The family has worked with Game and Fish to improve riparian habitat on their stretch of the Middle Fork of Crazy Woman Creek, and also to improve aspen stands on the property by removing encroaching conifers.

The Ruebs also have made contributions to furthering education of natural resource management to others in the area.

Located 8 miles southeast of Glenrock, the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments purchased the ranch in 2006, developed a long-term management plan in 2007 and in 2008 awarded a farm and ranch management lease to the Lankisters, who have collaborated with Game and Fish on habitat projects, wildlife management and hunting access the past 14 years.

The Duncan Ranch features many habitat types and a variety of wildlife species. A hunter management area was established in 2006. The ranch also provides habitat for protected species such as bald and golden eagles and peregrine falcons. It also provides good fishing for brown and rainbow trout. The Lankisters' grazing management and irrigation improvements have benefitted wildlife and habitat. 

The Eagle Ridge Ranch is located in Natrona County just a few miles west of Casper and sits along the North Platte River with scenic views of Casper Mountain. Stacey’s father, Dr. Oliver Scott, moved to Casper in 1948 and became the first board-certified pediatrician in Wyoming. A short eight years later, he bought the Eagle Ridge Ranch.  

In 1980, Dr. Scott placed all of the deed-ed land on the ranch at that time into a conservation ease-ment with The Nature Conservancy. The 8,400-acre easement was the largest conservation easement in Wyoming at that time.   
The Eagle Ridge Ranch provides important seasonal and year-round habitats for a broad diversity of wildlife. Riparian areas along the North Platte River and Little Red Creek are home to large cottonwood galleries and vitally important riparian vegeta-tion.  Irrigated meadows not only provide important hay for his agricultural operation, but also are host to substantial numbers of pronghorn, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and turkeys.   

Stacey is a conservationist at his very core. After spending 17 years in Alaska as a state auditor who audited major oil compa-nies, Stacey returned to Wyoming in 1996 to run the Eagle Ridge Ranch.  His father, Dr. Scott, who founded the Wyoming Audu-bon Society and started the Casper Christmas Bird Count in 1949, also passed on a love of birds to his sons. Stacey is a lifelong member of the Wyoming Audubon Society (now known as the Murie Audubon Society), and remains very active within the or-ganization.  

Located in Lonetree, the Hickey Ranch has been in operation since 1874.  Through the generations of the family that have worked the ranch, they have always strived toward creating the most wildlife friendly landscape they can on their own deeded property and the public lands they lease.  Jack Hickey was the recipient of the Landowner of The Year Award in 2005.  In 2018, Jack  passed away at the age of 89 and left his life’s work to be carried on by his children and grandchildren.  The family has con-tinued to carry on Jack’s legacy of being a steward for the land and providing a home for wildlife on their property.          

The Hickey Family has property enrolled in Walk in Areas through the Access Yes program.  This program allows deer, elk, moose and antelope hunting opportunity on a section of their land surrounded by Bureau of Land Management Land and State land.  Whether it is hunters looking for a moose, elk, or Sandhill cranes, the Hickey family welcomes them as if they were family.  By al-lowing access through their property, a  large amount of public land is opened to hunters that would be difficult to access other-wise.  The amount of public access the Hickey Family allows is among the largest of any ranch in Wyoming. 

The High Lonesome Ranch includes over 12,000 continuous acres of valuable sagebrush steppe, aspen hills, alluvial streams and willow dominated riparian habitat.  The ranch includes im-portant habitat for a number of wildlife species including moose, mule deer, antelope and sage grouse to name a few.  The property borders valuable habitat for wildlife species on US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands and provides important migratory and stopover habitat through essential movement corridors for both terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.  Many of the streams on the property support abundant popula-tions of Colorado River Cutthroat Trout including South Cottonwood Creek, one of the longest continuous segments of stream designated as a Conservation Population in the state.   

The Finley’s value their role in the community and have contrib-uted to building and maintaining the character of the region.  They actively participate in several non-profit, charitable organi-zations and have offered their property for access and fundraising efforts.  Several “Hunting with Heroes” participants have enjoyed hunting opportunities provided by the High Lonesome Ranch and the local non-profit “Fishing for the Fight” has enjoyed exclusive fishing access to South Cottonwood Creek to help raise money for locals in need of critical health care.   

The Finley’s are dedicated to maintaining the quality of wildlife and habitat on the High Lonesome Ranch and the long-term con-servation of cutthroat trout and other sensitive wildlife.  They have been a willing partner on a number of valuable efforts to benefit wildlife in the region and have played an integral role in many Department programs.  

John and Nancy Joyce’s property is located east of Manderson on the Nowood River. The Joyce’s manage their property with the help of their sons.  The species rich Nowood River meanders through their property for 7 miles supporting a cold and warm water fishery.  The Nowood River supports up to twenty different species of fish including sauger, burbot, flathead chub, mountain sucker, and  smallmouth bass, to name just a few. 

John and Nancy  maintain 1,500 acres of land where they graze sheep and grow crops using water from the Harmony Ditch  diversion off the Nowood River.  In 2006 and 2007 an en-trainment study was completed that esti-mated over 55,000 fish were entrained into the Harmony Ditch each irrigation season and permanently lost from the Nowood River fishery.   

The Joyce’s are conservation minded and wanted to prevent the loss of fish down their canal, allow for year round passage in the Nowood River, and eliminate annual maintenance to divert water.  They collaborated with the Department to develop solutions to meet these goals.  A project was designed that improved fish pas-sage and sediment transport, reduced fish entrainment and annual maintenance, and stabilized approximately 1200 ft of streambank.

The Snake River Ranch has partnered with Game and Fish for nearly 100 years on various projects, is the largest deeded ranch in the Jackson Hole area and is located on the west side of the Snake River.

The ranch was placed under conservation easements in the 1980s to help protect and preserve wildlife and wild places. Most of the land consists of irrigated pasture, which provides food and cover for many wildlife species. It has assisted Game and Fish’s management of private-land elk herds in the Snake River bottom, and in recent years the ranch has hosted a hunt for Wounded Warriors.

The families have provided access to monitor Snake River cutthroat trout, and have worked with Game and Fish and other agencies to better understand fish loss into irrigation ditches and the timing of water delivery. The ranch also works with organizations to improve stream function and riparian habitats along the Snake River.

Buffalo Bill Cody acquired the ranch in the late 1800s and named it the TE Ranch. The Duncan family purchased it in the early 1970s, and the Bales have managed it for more than 20 years. The working cattle ranch is home to numerous big game species including deer, elk and bighorn sheep.

The ranch provides prime winter range for wildlife migrating out of the backcountry, along with summer transitional range.

Owners and managers have willingly allowed Game and Fish personnel access to help manage grizzly bears and wolves that frequent the ranch, and have worked to avoid bear-human conflicts throughout the property. It also has worked with Game and Fish towards brucellosis management.

Bill and Beth White are a father / daughter duo who exemplify the hard work and dedication necessary to be successful ranchers in these challenging times.  The White Ranch encompasses over 6,700 acres along the Tongue River and foothills of the Bighorn Moun-tains near Ranchester.  

The White Ranch has been a key partner with the Sheridan County Weed and Pest as well as the Uni-versity of Wyoming Research Sta-tion to combat invasive grasses in Sheridan County.  Medusahead and Ventenata, invasive non-native grasses, have been spreading rapidly across the county and outcompeting native rangeland grasses.  The White Ranch has been very active mapping out these grass species on Beth White, & Bill White their ranch, as well as providing the University of Wyoming with a research plot to study the effects of different chemical and fire treatments to control these grasses. 

The White Ranch participated in the Dry Fork Riparian Enhance-ment Project, which incorporated both riparian and upland man-agement.  Approximately 580 acres of riparian habitat and 7.4 miles of stream were fenced, reducing grazing pressure on this important habitat. This protected area has been included in the overall management plan of the ranch and an additional 4,200 acres of uplands have also been placed into an intensive livestock grazing system.  The fenced area is managed to maximize woody vegetative growth and improve stream health.