The Bear Lodge Cattle Company project is perhaps the most significant private land conservation initiative to be undertaken in the state of Wyoming. The value of conserving the private lands bordering Devils Tower is exponential; conserving this 7,000-acre Centennial Ranch also preserves the quality of the experience enjoyed by tens of thousands of visitors every year. One of Wyoming’s most recognized icons, the land base of our country’s first National Monument is a small footprint in an expansive landscape comprised of private, and productive, working lands. We ask for your help in keeping these lands intact, and in agriculture into the future.
The project is vital to Wyoming on many fronts. More than 400,000 visitors come to Crook County each year, and Devils Tower is the main attraction. These visitors include thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts on their way to the Sturgis rally and tourists from around the world who come to enjoy Wyoming’s wide open vistas. The easements will protect the surrounding view sheds looking down from the Tower’s visitor’s center as well as the view from public areas approaching the Tower.
The private lands we are working to conserve also provide important year-long seasonal and transitional habitat for a variety of wildlife. According to the Wyoming Game & Fish Department, 254 species potentially occur on the property, including 59 mammals and 156 birds. This wildlife includes mule deer, pronghorn, Rocky Mountain elk, and white-tailed deer. It also includes 60 Species of Greatest Conservation Need, including Swainson’s hawk, greater sage grouse and peregrine falcon.
Help us to keep the lands surrounding our nation’s first National Monument intact and in private hands. Please consider extra support to the Land Trust this summer to help complete this important project. Send this to a friend and click here to donate. For more information, please contact us!