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News Items 2011 SEPTEMBER Barbecue at Hat 2 Ranch highlights conservation Gates Family Foundation funds Colo., Wyo. ranchland conservation JUNE Conservation easement conference educates professionals June Home on the Range E-Newsletter MAY
APRIL April Home on the Range E-Newsletter MARCH Conservation easement funding bill signed Maintaining the Range - Winter/Spring 2011 Issue
2010 DECEMBER Christmas comes early with renewal of tax incentives for conservation Stock Growers Ag Land Trust celebrates 10 years NOVEMBER Conservation easement helps young ranchers reinvest capital OCTOBER Maintaining the Range - Fall/Winter 2010 Issue SEPTEMBER Landowners donate easements as estate planning tool AUGUST Joe Glode receives Kurt Bucholz Conservation Award JULY Third easement complete on Cottonwood Ranches JUNE Sommers-Grindstone conserves nearly 19,000 acres Driskill Family welcomes board members to ranch Options for working ranches discussed during community conversation MAY Johnson County landowners conserve historic ag lands Encana invests in ranching's future Board member testifies for House Ag Committee APRIL Partnership protects sage grouse habitat, ag land Conservation easements in Wyoming: Not one size fits all MARCH Conservation easement funding signed by Governor FEBRUARY Funding Up For Approval with State Legislature JANUARY Stock Growers Ag Land Trust Conserves 3,800 Acres of Ranchlands in 2009 Storer Foundation Renews Support
2009 DECEMBER Lander Conservation Easement Finalized Wyo. Stock Growers Ag Land Trust and Partners awarded $730,000 NOVEMBER OCTOBER Maintaining the Range: Fall 2009 Newsletter SEPTEMBER AUGUST JULY WSGALT Partners on Cottonwood Ranches Project |
Friends, neighbors and supporters of the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust gathered to celebrate another year of protecting working ranches at the Annual Roundup Barbecue Aug. 27 at the Hat 2 Ranch near Meeteetse, Wyo. Hosted by Hat 2 Ranch owners Kasey & Ondi Shepperson, the Roundup Barbecue highlighted the value of ranchland conservation with a tour of their conserved property. The Shepperson Family completed an easement in 2010 on nearly 14,000 acres to protect their cattle ranch for their children Shawn, Lauran & Shanan and future generations. The Roundup Barbecue included a steak dinner by High Country Catering, dessert donated by the Meeteetse Chocolatier and dance music by Dave & Ian Munsick. Our guests heard remarks on the critical need for conservation of Wyoming’s working ranchlands and open spaces by U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis and Governor Matt Mead. We were also joined by State Auditor Cynthia Cloud and many state legislators.
As in years past, the highlight of the evening was the announcement of the 2011 Kurt Bucholz Conservation Award recipient, a closely held secret each year. This year’s award was presented to the family of the late Jim Chant, a rancher from the Little Snake River Valley who passed away in March 2011. Jim was a well educated man who took pleasure in spending time with his family, showing his cattle dogs, ranching on Wyoming’s open ranges and serving his community. A surprise award was also presented to long-time land trust supporter and the late Kurt Bucholz’s beloved wife, Laura. Dr. John Lunt presented a bas-relief plaque of the Bucholz Conservation Award in recognition of Laura’s dedication to ranchland conservation. The Shepperson Family was also presented with belt buckles, which the Stock Growers Land Trust awards to landowners who complete a conservation easement with us, and a lovely photograph taken by renowned photographer and local legend Charles Belden.
The mission of the Stock Growers Land Trust was also generously supported through bidders in the silent auction, live auction with auctioneer Joe Thomas, and Conservation Acres pledges. The unrestricted revenue raised will strengthen our effectiveness as a statewide organization and dramatically increase our ability to promote land conservation throughout the coming year. This successful event was made possible by Annual Roundup Barbecue Committee members Dianne & Jon Kirkbride, Alan & Gayle Barnett, Shari & Patrick Baird, Trudy Eisele, Nancy Prosser, Echo Renner and Lili Turnell. Thank you to our many generous sponsors and auction donors and to the Meeteetse community for your tremendous support and hospitality. Read Ondi Shepperson's account of the 2011 Roundup Barbecue on her blog. Gates Family Foundation funds Colo., Wyo. ranchland conservation The Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust announce a unique collaboration focusing on the permanent conservation of private lands in the upper North Platte Valley in Wyoming and North Park in Colorado. Funding from the Gates Family Foundation and the Gates Frontiers Fund initiate a pool of dollars to help cover the costs of conserving the highly productive lands embracing the headwaters of the North Platte River where it traverses the state boundary.
“Our land trusts continue to receive increasing interest in both the donation and sale of conservation easements in the North Platte Valley and North Park and, despite unprecedented levels of public funding through the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, it is a huge challenge to raise required matching funds and dollars for transaction costs,” Pamela Dewell, Stock Growers Ag Land Trust Executive Director, said. “The Gates Family Foundation and Frontiers Fund have recognized that their investment will make a critical difference.” The Gates Family Foundation and Frontiers Fund are providing dollars to cover the costs of purchased conservation easement transactions, matching funds required by other funding sources and project support. “These dollars will also facilitate a revolving loan fund which can help landowners cover the costs of appraisals, attorneys and other due diligence required in the completion of a conservation easement,” Chris West, Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust Executive Director, said. “And, thanks to this support, both land trusts can now re-grant funds to cover the costs associated with donated conservation easements which protect working family ranches for future generations.” The Gates Family Foundation has promoted self-sufficiency, excellence and innovation in Colorado communities since 1946. Stewardship of natural resources is central to the Foundation’s mission, and protection of land and water are primary interests. The Gates Frontiers Fund mission states they exist “to venture with organizations or projects that can have significant impact, are entrepreneurial and creative by design, comprehensive in approach and outcomes, and characterized by excellent leadership, clear mission, accountability and commitment to a better quality of life.” “North Park and the North Platte Valley are remarkable areas which remain largely intact,” Thomas Gougeon, Gates Family Foundation President, said. “We see great potential to respond to the growing interests of private landowners who wish to protect their properties and contribute to the conservation of this spectacular landscape and its ranching heritage and culture.” The North Platte is a significant river when it crosses into Wyoming. It flows northward into a broad and productive agricultural valley around the towns of Encampment and Saratoga. It is enriched by the Encampment River and several large tributaries including Big, Brush, Cedar, Cow, Douglas, Jack, Pass, Sage and Spring Creeks. The North Platte River unites these two agricultural regions as well as downstream urban dwellers who value the area for water, recreation and scenic qualities as well as its value to agriculture. “The Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust has deep roots in the upper North Platte Valley,” Dewell said. “The area’s former family physician, Dr. John Lunt, was the catalyst for our organization’s founding and our first conservation easement was completed on Sheep Rock Ranch just outside Saratoga. Local organizations such as the Gretchen Swanson Family Foundation, George B. Storer Foundation and the Malone Family Land Preservation Fund provide critical support for our work there, as have many area individuals. We are very grateful for the community’s interest in private lands conservation.” “In Colorado, the lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund (GOCO) has supported our increasing conservation success in North Park, where the North Platte River rises,” West said. “With its tributaries, the Canadian, Michigan, Illinois, Roaring Fork and Grizzly Creek, it sustains many spectacular working ranches in what is Colorado’s most intact mountain valley.” The region is also within a “core area” for Greater Sage Grouse, which the Fish and Wildlife Service has placed on the list of candidate species under the Endangered Species Act. North Park contains the second largest and most stable population of Sage Grouse in Colorado. The Sage Grouse are very dependent upon the mix of sagebrush slopes and irrigated meadows provided on the working ranches of the region. Evidence suggests that fragmentation and destruction of these landscapes has contributed to the species’ decline. If current trends persist, many local populations may disappear, with the remaining fragmented population vulnerable to extinction. Listing of the sage grouse would have considerable repercussions for agricultural and energy resources and on the local and regional economy. Founded by the premiere agricultural associations in their respective states, the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust and Colorado Cattleman’s Agricultural Land Trust are uniquely positioned to facilitate the conservation of working ranchlands and the preservation of the defining landscape that is provided by the headwaters of the North Platte watershed. To date, the two land trusts have protected 309 working ranch properties covering 521,000 acres.
Conservation easement conference educates professionals A diverse group of tax, law and land professionals were in attendance at the 2011 Wyoming Conservation Easement Conference June 2 in Laramie. The conference was hosted by the University of Wyoming College of Law Rural Law Center, in partnership with the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust and the Jackson Hole Land Trust.
A total of 139 people attended, with 12 additional participants accessing through a live webcast. The full-day conference included 11 conservation easement experts and a panel of land trust representatives. Topics included income tax benefits and requirements, attitudes in Wyoming toward conservation easements, mineral rights and conservation easements, bargain sale conservation easements, easement basics and legal ethics and conservation easements. “This conference provided critical conservation easement information to financial, legal and real estate professionals that consult with landowners in regard to their land use objectives,” said Wyoming Stock Growers Ag Land Trust Field Representative Jarren Kuipers. Continuing education credits were available through the American Institute of Certified Planners, the Wyoming Bar Association and the Wyoming Real Estate Commission. The event was sponsored by Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment & Natural Resources, Heart of the Rockies Initiative, Davis & Cannon LLP, McGee, Hearne & Paiz, LLP, Rocky Mountain Appraisals, and Western United Realty LLC. Conservation easement funding bill signed Wyoming Governor Matt Mead signed a critical piece of conservation legislation on Wednesday, March 2. Senate File 62, “Large Project Funding,” approved the recommendations for project funding made by the board of the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust (WWNRT) for large projects in utilizing funding allocated in the last budget session. The Legislature must approve any project receiving $200,000 or more in funding as selected and recommended by the WWNRT board. In addition to the 17 large projects reviewed by the Legislature, the WWNRT provided funding more than 70 other projects.
“The argument for the appropriation was made much easier due to the competence and professionalism of the both the board and the staff,” Senator Bruce Burns of Sheridan County said. WWNRT funding enables the Stock Growers Ag Land Trust to take advantage of Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) dollars obligated through the Natural Resources Conservation Service by providing some of the cash match required by FRPP. In 2010, the NRCS obligated nearly $20 million in funds for conservation easements throughout Wyoming and an additional $17 million in funds to support projects in Wyoming sage grouse core areas was announced several weeks ago. The WWNRT was established by the Wyoming Legislature in 2005 to maintain and enhance the rich wildlife and natural resource heritage in Wyoming. To date, the WWNRT has funded 304 projects statewide through the allocation of $29,523,528. Approximately 40 percent of those dollars supported conservation easement projects. With the majority of each project funding coming from other sources, the WWNRT matching funds have facilitated more than $162 million spent on the ground. To date, six projects resulting in 11 completed conservation easements held by the Stock Growers Ag Land Trust have benefited from a portion of this funding. The Stock Growers Ag Land Trust will hold conservation easements for five projects included in this year’s large projects bill. “Our organization is most grateful for the opportunity to utilize these funds to help bring grant dollars into the state,” Stock Growers Ag Land Trust Executive Director Pamela Dewell said. “Coupled with the generous support of the landowners who contribute a portion of the value of their property’s development rights, we are able to ensure these productive private lands are available for agriculture and wildlife in perpetuity.” Christmas comes early with renewal of tax incentives for conservation CHEYENNE – Private landowners—and especially family farmers and ranchers—are receiving an early Christmas gift as the beneficiaries of a renewed federal tax incentive for conservation easements in effect through Dec. 31, 2011 and retroactive to Jan. 1, 2010. The incentive, which had expired at the end of 2009, has helped the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust work with Wyoming landowners to conserve 148,000 acres of agricultural land and natural resources. The reinstated incentive will cover any conservation easements donated in 2010 through 2011.
“These tax incentives are designed to benefit working ranchers and farmers – families whose income is derived primarily from their agricultural operation. In these challenging times it is critical that Wyoming’s ag community has the broadest range of financial tools available,” Stock Growers Ag Land Trust Executive Director Pamela Dewell said. The renewal of tax incentives for conservation will aid in the protection of millions of acres of the nation’s agricultural lands and open spaces. These incentives allow modest-income landowners to receive significant tax savings for donating conservation easements that permanently protect important natural resources on their lands. When landowners donate conservation easements to a land trust such as the Stock Growers Ag Land Trust, they maintain ownership and management of their land and can pass the land on to their heirs, while foregoing their rights to develop the land. In doing so, the value of their property is reduced which can help families with estate planning or enable ranch sales to other working ranchers.
Nearly three years ago, legislation cosponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R), Sen. John Barrasso (R) and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R) sought to make the federal tax incentive for donations of conservation easements permanent. This proposal was defeated, but the current tax bill headed to the President’s desk will extend these incentives until the end of 2011. Last year, when the bill was introduced, Enzi praised the measure. “This incentive is a win-win opportunity for family farmers, ranchers and conservationists in the Cowboy State,” he said upon co-sponsoring the bill. “I worked hard to make this idea a reality when it was originally created and I am proud to support private, voluntary land conservation." Barrasso also supports the benefits of prolonging the benefits conservation easement donors receive. “Voluntary incentives for working ranchers are an important tool in Wyoming,” Barrasso said last year. “Providing a permanent tax incentive for conservation easements is a great way to encourage conservation efforts while also reducing the tax burden on hard-working families.” Representative Lummis was an original cosponsor of the legislation in the House and has seen firsthand how conservation easements can benefit Wyoming agriculture. “As a former Board Member of the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust, I have seen how conservation easements can be an important tool for working ranch families,” she said in 2009. “They can be used as a component of estate planning and help ease the transfer of family ranches from one generation to the next. And most importantly, they help us to maintain the wide-open spaces, working ranch lands and western heritage that we all love about Wyoming.”
Stock Growers Ag Land Trust celebrates 10th Anniversary CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust celebrated 10 years with its boots on the ground in conjunction with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) Winter Roundup Convention on Dec. 13 in Casper.
The Stock Growers Ag Land Trust was founded as a statewide, agricultural land trust by a vote of the general membership of WSGA at its 2000 Convention. Since its inception, the Land Trust has worked with 44 ranching families to conserve more than 148,700 acres through 57 conservation easements. “Thanks to the vision and leadership of our founders, board members and trustees, the Stock Growers Ag Land Trust plays a critical role in promoting the importance of agricultural lands to conservation – nationally through our membership in the Partnership of Rangeland Trusts and here in the Cowboy State where more than 90 percent of our private land is in agriculture,” Executive Director Pamela Dewell said. Wyoming’s 26 million acres of private agricultural lands produce food and fiber and sustain rural communities and generations of hard-working families. They buffer federal parks and forests and dovetail the state lands managed for the benefit of Wyoming’s schools. Private ranchlands provide some of the most critical wildlife habitat as well as Wyoming’s defining wide-open spaces and working landscape. Studies show they also provide a positive net return to county tax rolls. The Stock Growers Land Trust is the only conservation organization that works within the policies and directives of WSGA, a prominent agriculture leader in the state since its founding in 1872. WSGA founded the Land Trust after a group of ranchers and friends in the N. Platte Valley invited the organization to consider sponsoring an agricultural land trust. “We’d been approached by various ranchers who said for whatever reason, tax purposes or for personal reasons, ‘I’m interested in putting a conservation easement on some of my land,’” WSGA Executive Vice President Jim Magagna said in a 2003 interview with the Western Farmer-Stockman. “We sensed there is some demand for a land trust that is agriculturally focused and rancher controlled.” Each year, the Stock Growers Ag Land Trust receives requests from dozens of landowners interested in conserving their agricultural lands. The Land Trust works with landowners who both donate conservation easements and who apply for purchased easements. “Funds are limited for purchased easements, but each year thousands of agricultural acres are conserved thanks the generosity of the landowners with whom we work and funders such as the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust and the Natural Resources Conservation Service and a host of many private and public funders and project partners,” Dewell said. Conservation easements are legal, voluntary agreements between landowners and qualified conservation organizations which permanently restrict the type and amount of development that occurs on private property. They are widely used in estate and tax planning and incentives are currently being considered in Congress. The Stock Growers Ag Land Trust works primarily with working ranchlands and is committed to helping facilitate the transfer of land ownership to the next generation of Wyoming agricultural producers.
Conservation easement helps young ranchers reinvest capital MEETEETSE – A young ranching family will continue to grow a livelihood in agriculture thanks in part to a newly completed conservation effort with the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust and The Conservation Fund.
Kasey and Ondi Shepperson welcomed the closing of a purchased conservation easement on 13,857 acres of their Hat Two Ranch northwest of Meeteetse. Both Kasey and Ondi grew up in ranching families and have worked diligently to continue making a living on the land. The couple purchased the property for the Hat Two Limited Partnership in 2003 and moved from the Beaver Rim area between Shoshoni and Casper with their children Shawn, now 13 years old and Lauran, now 8 years old. The family later welcomed another child, Shanan, now 2 years old. “Ranching is all we ever wanted to do,” Kasey Shepperson said. The Shepperson Family runs a cow/calf operation and raises 400 acres of hay. Committed to the cattle-ranching business and way of life, the family plans to stay on the ranch long term and the conservation easement will keep the land available to pass on to their children. Kasey and Ondi chose to enter into the conservation easement after the value of their land continued to increase and they were turning away offers to sell the land. They wanted to find a way to reduce the monetary value of the property and retain the ranching value. As part of the purchased easement agreement, the Shepperson Family contributed a significant portion of the value of the easement. “Our primary values were to make the ranch more cost effective and provide something for our kids,” Kasey said. “The easement will allow us to pass on the property to our children faster and easier. It will also reduce mortgage demands, lessening the need to graze the property at full capacity.”
The Hat Two Ranch property has a rich ranching history which will carry on under the new conservation agreements. The land was originally homesteaded by Charles Webster, who bought 160 acres in 1900 on the lower Greybull River. He trailed 1,500 head of cattle on horseback from Idaho to Wyoming and continued to expand the ranch. The property is still home to several log homesteads and various archeological sites. The ranchland is also host to many agricultural and wildlife values. Cattle and wildlife are supported by the many water features on the ranch, including the Greybull River which borders the property. The ranch consists of floodplain and river riparian areas, high plains with rolling hills and sagebrush steppe vegetation. The diverse landscapes provide productive agricultural lands and important habitats for pronghorn antelope, mule deer, elk, sage grouse and Yellowstone cutthroat trout. A portion of the ranch is considered a core sage grouse area and at least three leks (breeding grounds) are located on deeded lands. The Hat Two Ranch conservation easement will also protect the work done by Trout Unlimited on the conservation of fish habitat. “Trout Unlimited considers the Greybull River one of the highest native cutthroat trout protection and restoration priorities in the northern Rockies,” Trout Unlimited Western Water Project Director Scott Yates said. “It's one of the few remaining native trout strongholds that extends well into historic and current agricultural lands. Trout Unlimited is currently working with the Shepperson Family to protect and restore riparian habitat along the Greybull River, and feel strongly that such efforts dovetail perfectly with the permanent land protection efforts of the Stock Growers Ag Land Trust and partners.” The Hat Two conservation easement offer unbroken, open spaces by connecting Bureau of Land Management land, state-owned land and the Hat Two Ranch. The Shepperson Family helps steward these public lands through their grazing leases and the connected land provides open views of the Bighorn Basin and the Greybull River floodplain. “This project protects the rich ranching culture in the Meeteetse area by supporting a next-generation, ranching family,” Stock Growers Ag Land Trust Field Representative Jarren Kuipers said. “At the same time it also preserves critical wildlife habitats, natural viewscapes and the regions agricultural and tourism economy.” The purchased easement will allow the Shepperson Family to put dollars back into the community while making improvements on their land. Kasey and Ondi hope to move ahead with plans for drilling a new well, installing pipeline and building new fence. They also plan to eventually lease additional lands to increase the size of the operation while reducing the herd on the deeded property. “Ultimately, the easement will provide for more financial and management flexibility on the ranch, likely improving the natural resources on the property,” Kasey said. Financial contributions toward the Hat Two Ranch conservation easement were made by Natural Resources Conservation Service Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, The Conservation Fund and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. |
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