Easement Links 13,000-acre Wildlife Habitat

Conserving Bald Eagle Habitat on the North Platte River

Casper, WY—November 30, 2006—A Casper landowner has donated a conservation easement covering 159 acres of important bald eagle habitat along the North Platte River to The Nature Conservancy.

The property, owned by Cindy Rose, links two easements donated previously by Stacey Scott to form a contiguous 13,000-acre tract of wildlife habitat protected by the Conservancy in the Jackson Canyon area.

Winter Habitat for Bald Eagles
Located southwest of Casper, the Rose easement contains almost a mile of the North Platte River. This stretch of river stays open in the winter due to warm water flowing from several springs and creeks, critical for bald eagles’ winter-time survival.

“I decided to donate a conservation easement on my land because of everything that’s here,” says Rose, who first got the idea from her father, the late Robert Rose, Chief Justice of the Wyoming State Supreme Court in the 1970s. “Most people don’t even think of these things when they float by on the river. But I see so much living here.”

Increasing Pressure on Wyoming's Waterways
With increasing pressure from residential development in Natrona County, Rose wanted to prevent any subdivision of her property and limit future construction to the area around her present home. Protecting the 159-acre stretch of river from development allows it to follow natural flood cycles that support a healthy trout fishery, songbirds, eagles, owls and other species.

“It’s important to me that this chunk of river not be developed. Even though it’s just a mile, it’s a mile that won’t be destroyed. It’s very important to me to know that it will always be here.”

The Rose easement represents the Conservancy’s ongoing commitment to freshwater ecosystems, critical habitats that deliver nutrients to floodplains, wetlands, and estuaries, and moderate floods and droughts.

“Wyoming’s freshwater ecosystems have so much value for the people of our state,” says Andrea Erickson Quiroz, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Wyoming Chapter. “Cindy’s donation represents a true commitment to the complex natural river system right in her own backyard.”