Betting on the Ranch
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Running the Numbers / Easements
Total acres protected by
U.S. land trusts in 1988
using conservation easements:
290,000
Total in 2003:
5,000,000
—
Total number of
conservation easements in 1998:
7,392
In 2003:
17,847
—
U. S. easements owned by the
Conservancy in 2005:
More than 2,100
Total acreage:
More than 2,700,000
Sources: Acres protected by land trusts: The Conservation Easement
Handbook, 2nd edition, 2005, Byers and Marchetti Ponte, Land Trust
Alliance/The Trust for Public Land. Total easements: Land Trust Alliance.
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Shane Daniels checks cattle in pasture.
Horse Creek Fen Ranch
Photo © Michael Forsberg
Saving Wetlands and a Way of Life on the Plains
It’s 26 miles to town, and the chores never end. But for ranchers Shane and Kristi Daniels and their four daughters, the Horse Creek Fen Ranch, deep in the Nebraska Sandhills, is home—and a dream come true. “It took a miracle to get us started,” Shane says, “but this is where we’ll be when we’re old and gray.”
The miracle in this case is The Nature Conservancy’s Beginning Rancher Program, prompted by the organization’s 1997 purchase of the 3,240-acre ranch, including 20-some critical downstream acres of Horse Creek Fen. Set like a jewel in the wind-carved and semiarid Sandhills, the fen holds deep peat soils that nourish a mix of moisture-loving plants, small fish and the globally imperiled Blanding’s turtle.
“All we really needed to do was protect that fen,” says Jim Luchsinger, the Conservancy’s project director for the region. A conservation easement (a voluntary protection agreement) was established for the wetland, but something else in the region needed protection: family ranches. Such ranches have been disappearing as young people leave and the land is consolidated into huge operations. “The reason this land is in good condition is because ranchers have given it such good stewardship,” says Luch-singer. “We want to see that continue.” He adds: “Conservation and agriculture can and should work together.”
The desire to foster that cooperation prompted talks with the Sandhills Task Force, a nonprofit conservation and ranching group, and the talks led to the Beginning Rancher Program. The groups looked for a ranching family that was willing to trade a lot of sweat equity for the chance to own the Horse Creek Fen Ranch. The Daniels, who have family roots in ranching, were chosen from five applicants. During a five-year lease agreement, the couple has the option to buy the ranch at its 2005 appraised value, minus the price of the easement (which the Conservancy retains).
The couple, who are building a herd of cattle, say they want to set the standard that demonstrates how well the Beginning Rancher Program can work, as the Conservancy looks to replicate the model with other ranching families. Says Shane, “We’re going to set the bar high.”
