Winchester Ranch Sells to Conservancy

Lander, WY—October 5, 2000—Jack and Edna Winchester announced the sale of the Winchester Land and Cattle Co. to the Wyoming Nature Conservancy today. The ranch consists of nearly 6300 acres of deeded land in two separate parcels. The upper ranch of 4025 acres lies north of Dubois along Little Horse Creek and Tappan Creek. The Home ranch of 2271 acres is located near the Diversion Dam Junction.

For four generations the Winchester family has called the Upper Wind River Valley home. Jack Winchester, along with Edna, his wife of 40 years, have mixed feelings about leaving the place that has been home to Winchesters for the past 88 years. "It will be hard to leave, but when its time to move on, it’s time to move on," said Edna Winchester. The ranch was put together over the years by Jack, grandfather Jack and father Albert Winchester.

Late last fall, Dave Neary, State Director of the Wyoming Nature Conservancy approached Jack about the idea of the Conservancy purchasing the ranch. The ranch was listed for sale at that time.

Jack said, "We were at the point where we thought we would have to subdivide some of it up there to keep the business going. One good thing is it won’t be subdivided. It will still be pretty much like it is now."

Managing a cattle operation on U.S. Forest leased land with predators has also been difficult. Current Forest regulations only allow 312 pairs on nearly 60,000 acres, and death loss to predators has been substantial according to Winchester.

Fortunately, the Winchester’s wish that the ranch not be fragmented allowed the Conservancy to develop a plan that would enable them to receive a fair price for the property and to ensure that it would remain intact.

The Conservancy plans to resell the property to a "conservation buyer" – someone willing to donate a conservation easement on the property to limit subdivision of the property.

The ranch was purchased to help maintain a piece of the ecologically important upper Wind River Valley. According to Neary, "The Winchester Ranch contains some very important and biologically rich land. It has a lot of what makes Wyoming special- productive ranchlands that support critical wildlife range. A major elk migration corridor and calving areas are on the ranch, as well as over 5 miles of Wind River and Bull Lake Creek."

The Nature Conservancy, based out of Lander, is the leading conservation organization in the state working with landowners to help maintain important habitat areas. Until sold, the ranch will be leased as a cattle operation. Hunting with written permission only will be allowed.

While many family ranches change hands because the owners want to slow down and not work so hard, not so with the Winchesters. Jack and Edna will head out to western Idaho where they have purchased a place where the Boise runs into the Snake. While they are excited about a fresh beginning, Jack said, "One thing is we’re leaving a lot of good neighbors, friends, but I’m sure it’s the same out there. It will be different getting to know everybody. We’ll lose our identity. When you live someplace this long, why everybody knows you. Of course, you know everybody too. That will be different."