The $10,000 award is a partnership between the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and the Sand County Foundation, and is given as part of the Wyoming Environmental Stewardship Award Program. The Sand County Foundation, a Wisconsin-based non-profit focused on agricultural conservation, partners with agencies in eight states to sponsor the award.
"Each year the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and our partners look forward to honoring more landowners for the contribution they make to our state's economy, environment and culture," said WSGA Executive Vice President Jim Magagna in a release.
The 2013 award will be formally presented at the Wyoming Stock Growers Association summer convention, June 5-8 in Cheyenne.
"Successful ranches enable the community to continue to have vast amounts of open space that would otherwise be used for uses that would not enhance water and air quality, wildlife habitat and provide recreational opportunities to the public," said Wayne Fahsholtz, President and CEO of Padlock Ranch in a release. "When I came here 10 years ago, we really had the opportunity to look at our practices and decide what we needed to do to have as good a ranch as we could and to grow as much grass as possible."
Padlock Ranch is owned by the Homer and Mildred Scott family and has been operating since 1943, according to a WSGA release. The ranch began at 3,000 acres and ballooned to its current size through land acquisitions.
"We salute the owners and operators of Padlock Ranch for their dedication to conservation practices that make them great stewards of the land," said Sand County Foundation President Brent Haglund in a release. "They exemplify what our Leopold Conservation Award stands for."
Nominations for the 2014 award can be submitted through July 12. For more information please visit: www.leopoldconservationaward.org.
For more Daily news click here and look under 'Breaking News'
