Savers of the Purple Sage

The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust (WSGLT) recently conserved 2,257 acres of Purple Sage Ranch in Carbon County, which is owned by the Davis family of Baggs. According to a press release from the WSGLT, the Davis family "strive to manage their ranch in a way that encourages healthy habitat for fish and wildlife."

Earlier this year, on July 26, members of the WSGLT hosted an "Understanding Conservation Easements" open house at the Platte Valley Community Center to answer questions from ranching families who were curious about the process of conserving easements. In attendance were Travis Brammer, stewardship coordinator for the WSGLT, Katelyn "Katie" Vaporis, appeals specialist and easement coordinator for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Maggie Rux, external coordinator for the WSGLT.

"As stewardship coordinator, the biggest part of my job is monitoring closed conservation easements. So, after a conservation easement closes, we have an obligation to the landowner and the LTA, the Land Trust Alliance, with whom we are accredited. We have an obligation to do a once per calendar year monitoring of every closed easement to make sure that all terms are being upheld and nothing on the property has changed," said Brammer.

This obligation takes Brammer throughout the state between April and September to monitor these closed easements, which totaled 250,000 acres across 99 ranches in July. Carbon County, which now has over 34,000 acres conserved as working land, is second only in the state to Sublette County.

According to Brammer, there are two major restrictions for closed conservation easements.

"No subdivision and no additional development. No subdivision ensures that the ranch stays whole and can continue as a viable agricultural operation for the future and that there is no additional residences or commercial development, with exceptions," Brammer said, adding, "There are always exceptions to both of those rules, but those are the two biggest, most important restrictions that conservation easements have. They just make sure that the ranch can stay in agricultural operation without pressure of being subdivided and being turned into a residential development."

One example used by Brammer to illustrate why these exceptions can be put in place is the conservation of property on a family ranch. If the head of the family wants to conserve their ranch, but also wants to be able to construct additional houses for their children, that can be negotiated in the process.

Vaporis, meanwhile, often coordinates with the WSGLT for the NCRS, to help guide people through the process of conservation easement.

"People have reservations about this, and for good reason, because for these it's in perpetuity so it's a big life decision, but in the long run it can really help out some operations," said Vaporis.

Rux's role for the WSGLT is to coordinate outreach sessions, like the one in July, to answer any questions agricultural landowners may have about conservation easements as well as inform people of WSGLT's mission.

"Part of our mission is that we are helping these rural communities thrive by keeping Ag alive," said Rux.

This is where the Davis family and Purple Sage Ranch come back into the picture. Along with preventing future subdivision and development of the ranch, the conservation easement will also protect nesting, feeding and migration habitat for bald and golden eagles as well as protecting other wildlife habitats.

According to the press release from the WSGLT, Purple Sage Ranch has a diversity of ecosystems that range from sagebrush rangelands to woody wetlands as well as unfragmented ranchland that can provide habitat for antelope, elk and mule deer.

The conservation of the over 2,000 acres on the Purple Sage Ranch was completed in coordination with funding from the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

For more information about conservation easements and the WSGLT, visit www.wsgalt.org.