CHEYENNE — For 30 years, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has recognized landowners throughout the state who have demonstrated outstanding wildlife management and implemented habitat improvement and conservation techniques on their properties with Landowner of the Year Awards.

These stewards of the land open access to research and recreation on thousands of acres across Wyoming, and more importantly, maintain and improve habitat for wildlife. Game and Fish recognized four landowners as the 2025 Landowners of the Year during a reception Sept. 9 in Lander.

Grant family

Turtle Rock Ranch

Located about 20 miles south of Glenrock in the Laramie Range, the ranch is owned and operated by the Mark and Angela Grant and Craig and Mary Grant families. The ranch provides excellent habitat for elk, deer, pronghorn and many other species.

Since 1998, the ranch has been part of the Game and Fish’s Access Yes program. Each year, the ranch allows hunters access from Aug. 1-Jan. 31, and the Grants have worked closely with Game and Fish to help control the elk population in Hunt Area 7. The Laramie Peak elk herd is estimated around 10,000, which is double the management goal. The Grants continue to work with the department to develop long-term strategies to bring elk numbers to target levels.

The Grants also have partnered with Game and Fish on habitat improvement projects, such as enhancing aspen and mountain shrub communities to benefit wildlife. The families practice reasonable grazing management to ensure riparian areas, wet meadows and uplands remain healthy.

Chant family

NL Land and Livestock Inc.

Owned and operated by Mary Hay, Tom Chant and Archie Chant. The family has cared for the land and wildlife for several generations from South Pass and the Sweetwater River to the Interstate 80 corridor near Tipton in the Lander Region.

The family was all-in when Game and Fish approached them to convert 23 miles of woven-wire fence to a more wildlife-friendly design to help migrating pronghorn in the Red Desert. The project opened more than 18,000 acres of critical winter range habitat for the Red Desert pronghorn herd. Tom Chant also participated in an outreach effort with the University of Wyoming Migration Initiative to spread the word to other land managers in the Red Desert to convert problematic fences to aid movement corridors for wildlife.

The Bar X portion of NL Land and Livestock Inc., is located north of the Red Desert along the Sweetwater River. Archie Chant has improved fencing and protected riparian areas along the river. Chant has asked Game and Fish to relocate problem beavers to the property to help keep water on the ranch. This portion of the ranch supports large numbers of sage-grouse and provides quality habitat for moose, elk, mule deer and pronghorn. Converting woven-wire fencing to wildlife-friendly designs is enhancing pronghorn migration and making seasonal movements easier for all wildlife along the Sweetwater River on South Pass.

Tom Chant and family have been part of the Red Rim-Grizzly Wildlife Habitat Management Area grazing program since 2016, and have been a cooperative partner on the WHMA, assisting with fence conversions and many tasks involving maintenance of the property.

Betty Falxa

Falxa Ranch

Betty Falxa, her late husband, Martin, and the family conserve more than 25,000 acres in Johnson and Washakie counties and provide wide-open spaces for wildlife.

The Falxas worked with Game and Fish and other partners to complete extensive habitat improvement projects to benefit wildlife that included a grazing management plan and installation of cross fencing to help facilitate a rotational grazing system. The ranch implemented prescribed fire and sagebrush mowing to rejuvenate decadent mountain sagebrush stands for the benefit of elk, deer and sage-grouse. On the Johnson County property, the ranch worked with Game and Fish and the Lake DeSmet Conservation District to rejuvenate hundreds of acres of degraded rangeland to improve rangeland production for livestock and wildlife.

Audubon Rockies designated the Johnson County property as an Important Bird Area, and that property also provides crucial breeding habitat for sage-grouse in the Buffalo Sage-Grouse Core area.

The House Draw Fire of 2024 burned sagebrush habitat on the Johnson County ranch, but Betty jumped at the chance for the fire’s restoration team to replant sagebrush. Betty allowed conservation partners to build Zeedyk structures on her property.

The Falxa Ranch has always been a cooperator in the advancement of scientific research and conservation education by granting Game and Fish access for monitoring activities and allowing personnel access to and across the property during fall field seasons. The ranch has provided access for three different sage-grouse studies in the Powder River Basin.

J Bar 9 Ranch

Located south of Cody in the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the J Bar 9 Ranch demonstrates an unwavering commitment to wildlife conservation, habitat enhancement and collaborative efforts that benefit Wyoming’s natural resources. Under the leadership of ranch manager Bob Curtis, the ranch has been an exemplary partner in wildlife stewardship through its contributions to elk and mule deer research, wildlife habitat management and its broader conservation initiative in the South Fork of the Shoshone River drainage.

The ranch has played an essential role in advancing scientific understanding of Wyoming’s wildlife populations, particularly through its partnership in elk and mule deer collaring studies. The ranch has provided land access to researchers conducting these studies, which has improved Game and Fish’s knowledge of movement patterns, habitat use and survival rates of these species.

The ranch engaged in habitat conservation projects that enhance winter range and migration corridors for big game. These efforts include strategic grazing management, invasive species control and the implementation of wildlife-friendly fencing.

The ranch works closely with Game and Fish, conservation organizations and local landowners to facilitate conservation strategies that enhance wildlife connectivity and ecosystem resilience. The ranch has been active in land trades with the U.S. Forest Service and adjacent property owners to preserve connectivity, limit development and provide winter range for wildlife.

The ranch allows access to sportspeople from the Outdoor Dream Foundation and Wyoming Disabled Hunters to hunt elk every year. The Curtis family provides assistance to other elderly and disabled elk hunters as well. Through this, the ranch has helped bridge the gap between private land stewardship and regional wildlife management goals.

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