Landowner of the Year

Tim and Tina Delaney are landowners who are dedicated to wildlife habitat. Their Rolling Thunder and Rim Ranches  properties are located on “The Rim,” the hydrographic divide between the Green and Hoback River drainages, just south of Bondurant.
 
Both properties intersect a significant portion of the recently acclaimed Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration as well as provide important fawning, summer and transitional habitat used by mule deer that winter on the Pinedale Anticline winter range.   
 
Their land also provides habitat for a significant population of elk, moose and pronghorn that use the property at various times throughout the year.  Tim’s respect for aspen as a valuable component of wildlife habitat was a driving force behind the purchase of this property.

Tim has been actively involved with conducting vegetation treatments that align with the Department’s Sublette Mule Deer Initiative. Aspen treatments have occurred on several hundred acres of the ranch.  The treatments have primarily included chainsaw removal of conifers that are encroaching aspen stands.  Additionally, in 2015 Tim allowed Department personnel to conduct experimental aspen root ripping methodology on several stands on the Ranch to stimulate young aspen suckers.

For these reasons and more, we are pleased to announce Tim and Tina Delaney as the Pinedale Region Landowner of the Year! 

The Holding family first started ranching in Wyoming in 1983, when Earl and Carol Holding purchased the Bugas Ranch in Park County and the Twin Creek Ranch in Sheridan County.  A few years later, they added the Little Horn Ranch along the East Face of the Bighorn Mountains.

Earl Holding personally directed nearly every detail at Sunlight Ranch until November 2007, when he entrusted the management of the ranch to Justin Hossfeld. As General Manager, Justin has worked with Kathleen Holding to steadfastly continue her father’s passion for maintaining wide-open spaces as well as being responsible stewards of the land.  The farming and grazing practices implemented by the personnel at the ranch, maximize the potential for livestock production while minimizing impact to the landscape.  Even during dry years, it is difficult to determine which pastures were used by livestock and which were not.

Having exceptional wildlife habitat means some conservation measures must take place in order to manage wildlife numbers.  Several years ago, the Ranch initiated a youth hunting program which allows young and first-time hunters a chance to take a big game animal.  Each year, dozens of kids from all over have the opportunity to take their first deer, pronghorn, or turkey courtesy of the Sunlight Ranch.
 
We are more than pleased to nominate the Holding family and the entire team at Sunlight Ranch for the Sheridan Region Landowner of the Year Award!              

The ZN Ranch lies to the west of Elk Mountain proper; where the sagebrush covered foothills meet the meandering meadows along Pass Creek. This picturesque landscape is home to a myriad of wildlife species. It is also home to the Williams Family. George and Susan Williams, and their son Chris and his wife Kate, manage the ZN’s cow-calf operation, as partners in the Tetrad Corporation.
 
Over the decades they have been ranching on the ZN, the Williams family has strived to enhance the landscape for the benefit of both cattle and wildlife. Their commitment to ensuring this land passes from one generation to the next, in better condition than when they themselves took on its stewardship, is an underlying theme in their management decisions for the ZN Ranch.George, now semi-retired, has always been interested in using different treatment techniques to enhance the productivity of the rangeland. Over the years, George conducted several prescribed burns, applied herbicides, and used sagebrush rollers to stimulate new vegetation growth. George is quick to point out that he didn’t always see the type of response he was seeking but it did not dampen his enthusiasm for trying new management techniques and building on what he had learned would work on the ranch. Chris now runs the day to day operations of the ZN, and he is carrying forward his father’s interest in improving range conditions on a grand scale.

The Williams family exhibits a high level of land stewardship and concern for wildlife and their habitat, making them more than deserving of the Laramie Region Landowner of the year.