Keeping ranches intact for wildlife

In the Okanogan and Similkameen

Some of the most important work we do is helping connect the Cascades to the Rockies, for example, conserving grasslands in the Okanogan and Similkameen valleys of central Okanogan County in north-central Washington. These beautiful valleys between the North Cascades and the  Columbia Highlands and continue up into British Columbia, Canada. Rich in wildlife, from lynx to sharptail grouse to bighorn sheep, they range from dry, sage grasslands to forested mountain views. These lands are largely undeveloped because of traditional ranching and the rancher families who live here.

The Okanogan and Similkameen valleys are important to sustaining safe passage for wildlife across the broader landscape, and we're helping maintain these lands as ranches.

Two large-scale landscapes connect here:

• The grasslands of south-central BC, home to highly diverse wildlife species, some of them threatened
• The mixed forest and grasslands of private ranches found between the North Cascades and Okanogan Highlands 

All this is threatened by a real-estate boom that is driving subdivision and development throughout Okanogan County, much of it fueled by Canadians buying second homes. The economy of Canada is surging on oil revenues, generating a wave of new wealth. The Okanogan is where Canadians seek warm climes, and their dollar often buys more on the US side of the border that it does in towns like Kelowna north of the border.

Keeping ranchlands in open space

Yet keeping key ranches in open space is important not just to conserve wildlife but also to sustain the history and unique lifestyle of the Okanogan. Keystone ranches here are still held by pioneer families and are rich in lore and custom.

Many of the older ranchers are loath to sell to developers. But when the value of commodities such as beef are outpaced by rising costs of ranching and booming real-estate values, tough choices are being made and wildlife habitat suffers. Conservation Northwest is working with partners—including Trust for Public Land, Okanogan Valley Land Council, The Nature Conservancy, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife—to give ranchers better choices, including marketing key ranches to interested buyers who want to keep the land in open space and wildlife habitat. Many ranchers, if they must sell, prefer to see the land they love kept whole rather than diced up into smaller, 5 to 20 acre, ranchettes.

Conservation easements

For ranchers who want to remain on the land, we're helping fund conservation easements. Such easements can be donated, with tax benefits, to entities such as the Okanogan Valley Land Council. The Department of Fish and Wildlife is also sometimes able to purchase easements from ranchers for a substantial portion of the total value of the property. Together we are helping the state find the capital to make these purchases.

A conservation easement, which is either voluntarily donated or sold by the landowner, is a restriction placed on a piece of property that constitutes a legally binding agreement to protect associated resources in perpetuity while the land remains in private hands.

In 2008, Conservation Northwest and allies helped the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) receive grants of $4 million from the US Department of Interior and $3.5M from the state legislature. These funds were used to purchase easements or fee-simple ownership of about 6,000 acres of habitat-rich ranches in the Okanogan and Similkameen valleys that were otherwise at risk of development.

This year Interior repeated its grant and the legislature directed another $2.8 million. WDFW, assisted by Conservation Northwest and partners like Trust for Public Lands and Okanogan Valley Land Council, is working on similar plans that will protect over 10,000 acres. The success of our initial efforts has raised the comfort level and interest of ranchers and local leaders, leading to increasing interest in participation.