New Manager at Conservancy’s Red Canyon Ranch

Lander, WY—January 11, 2006—Bill Oakes keeps a framed picture on his desk that reminds him how deep his agricultural roots grow. The old black-and-white print shows his great-grandfather working the family’s north-central Washington ranch in the 1800s. Oakes carries on tradition as the new manager of The Nature Conservancy’s Red Canyon Ranch, a 35,000-acre slice of striking canyon walls and verdant hillsides outside Lander, Wyo.

“With Wyoming’s high desert and mountain meadows, I feel right at home,” Oakes says of the similarities to the Okanogan County (Washington) ranchland his family has lived in for over five generations – since his great-great grandparents were homesteaders in the 1890’s.

Oakes’ new position marks a return to the American West—he spent 14 years in Hawaii as a livestock and production manager for a large cattle and sheep ranch. With several different precipitation zones, the island ranch exposed Oakes to what he calls a “microcosm of the mainland U.S.”

In Wyoming, Oakes plans to pursue his passion for a holistic approach to land management. His focus meshes well with the Conservancy’s values—environmentally sound stewardship combined with practices that make sense socially and economically. It’s a formula Red Canyon Ranch has embraced for more than a decade with its focus on enhancing biological diversity and protecting native plants and animals, while raising quality cattle.

Oakes, who has a degree in range management from Washington State University, calls this approach a “combination of science and art.” His emphasis is on maintaining soil and plants to mimic the natural grazing cycles of bison and other wildlife—a tradition, he says, that goes all the way back to his great-grandfather’s agricultural practices. Everything on the land is connected,” he says. “It’s a giant web, from soil microorganisms to mammals.”

In China, Oakes studied farming practices with the Washington Agriculture and Forestry Education Foundation. He believes collaboration—both on a local and international level—is the key to unlock healthy agricultural land. “We’re all in this together,” says Oakes. “What happens in China effects us here in the U.S. So we have to find solutions for everyone involved. We have to be innovative, creative, pro-active and aggressive.”

Oakes appreciates the role ranchers and farmers play on the land. “Agriculture has made great strides in recent years,” he says. “Farmers and ranchers are the true stewards of the land. We need their knowledge.”

Andrea Erickson, Director of the Wyoming Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, echoes Oakes’ appreciation for the important role ranchers and farmers play. “Conservation and agriculture have many, many common goals,” says Erickson. “So much of Wyoming’s important natural areas are on ranchlands—both deeded and public. By helping to keep those lands in the hands of ranchers, we can help maintain the ecological services they provide: wildlife habitat at an effective scale, intact watersheds and clean air. These are values that all who live here profoundly share.”

Oakes looks forward to being a part of his new community and sharing ideas with other land stewards. “I’m enjoying living in such a beautiful place and getting to know the ranch. I love to watch all the cycles of nature here. I want to understand them better.”

Former Red Canyon Ranch manager, Bob Budd was appointed executive director of Wyoming’s new Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust last November. During his twelve-year tenure with The Nature Conservancy, Budd explored innovative rangeland management strategies using Red Canyon Ranch’s deeded and public lands as summer range for the organization’s cow-calf operation. Winter pasture and calving, as well as hay production, take place at the former Winchester Ranch headquarters near Crowheart, which The Nature Conservancy purchased four years ago. The Conservancy also operates a Grassbank at its Heart Mountain Ranch outside Cody, providing pasture to ranchers participating in stewardship activities such as resting natural range or prescribed burning.