The Rolling Thunder Ranch in Bondurant is beautiful and holds immeasurably valuable wildlife habitat for many species, including greater sage grouse. It and four other ranches in Wyoming have been protected in recent years by conservation easements covering more than 13,000 acres. (Mark Gocke photo)

The Rolling Thunder Ranch in Bondurant is one of several properties totaling more than 13,000 acres that The Conservation Fund and partners have conserved in recent years in Wyoming.

Tucked between the Wyoming and Gros Ventre mountain ranges, the ranch’s wildlife habitat is preserved by a conservation easement held by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Tim Delaney and his family cooperated with The Conservation Fund’s sage grouse campaign, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Farm Ranch Protection Program, the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust and RMEF in conserving the property.

The Conservation Fund celebrated the easement recently when it reached a 100,000-acre conservation milestone in a three-state region. Properties also were conserved in Idaho and Colorado.

Other ranches the fund conserved — all through the work of the late Luke Lynch — include 2,831 acres of the Miller Property (The Cabins Ranch) between the Snake River and Upper Green River, The Miller Land & Livestock’s 1,531-acre Culbertson Place and the 1,664-acre Alexander Property along the Path of the Pronghorn. The most recent easement, obtained this year, conserves 4,000 acres of the Rim Ranch, also between the Green and Snake rivers.

Angus M. Thuermer Jr. is the natural resources reporter for WyoFile. He is a veteran Wyoming reporter and editor with more than 35 years experience in Wyoming. Contact him at angus@wyofile.com or (307)...

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