Approximately 3,000 acres of productive ranch land in Hot Springs County have been preserved as the result of a conservation easement completed on June 30 by the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust.  In partnership with the Wilson family, and with funding provided by the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust and the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, a conservation easement on the Swallow Place on the V Ranch ensures that the unit will remain in agricultural production in perpetuity.  
 
Jim and Terry Wilson chose to prevent the subdivision and development of the property in the future and donated a significant portion of the appraised value. The Wilsons have been active participants in various conservation efforts along Kirby Creek and provide hunters with access through the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's "walk-in" program.  The ranch serves as suitable habitat for many of Wyoming’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need and a majority of their ranch is designated as yearlong habitat for pronghorn and crucial winter-yearlong habitat for mule deer by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The property is within a Sage Grouse Core Area and the northern portion of the property is designated as Crucial Terrestrial Habitat in the Department’s Strategic Habitat Plan.
 
Chairman of the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust Ed Prosser stated,
“The Wilson family, going back to Willard, has been a driving force in the cattle business in Wyoming and surrounding states for longer than I can remember.  Practically a household name if you have been in the business in this part of the country very long.  It is rewarding that a family with that much history in the cattle business in Wyoming understands the importance of conserving and protecting ag lands for future generations.”
 

The majority of the property is visible from Kirby Creek Road where travelers can look across the pastoral view of the property toward the Bridger and Owl Mountain Ranges on the horizon.

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