Conservation Overview

Conservation Begins…

by having a deep understanding of the needs of wildlife throughout the year and the interplay with available water, forage, safe places to rear young, travel corridors, and the entire ecosystem.

Steve Coale has spent thousands of hours as a hunter, trapper and fisherman which has resulted in a wildlife conservation focus that drives all decisions at the ranch. Every aspect of managing the ranch has an impact on wildlife, cattle and the habitat they rely on. Making the decision to fence cattle out of the river corridor has already made an enormous difference for both aquatic and terrestrial animals.

But with habitat improvement comes trial and error and a healthy sense of humor. For example, voles found hundreds of planted trees quite tasty and girdled and killed more than half of the willows and cottonwood planted this year.

But incredible progress has been made since 2014 when the ranch was purchased. It starts and ends by caring about wildlife and the habitat and management they need to thrive.

Wildlife conservation

Each wildlife species on the ranch requires looking at the habitat and improvements through a unique lens. At the same time, any change affects a number of species simultaneously. Since 2014, the major improvements for wildlife have been installing miles of wildlife friendly fencing, 54,600 feet of buried water line for 29 water tanks, thousands of trees planted, and excellent forage of sainfoin, barley and alfalfa.

river conservation

Now that the cattle are fenced out of this critical habitat along the Musselshell River, many wildlife are making a comeback, including beaver, muskrat, whitetail deer, coyote, fox, numerous birds and trout. Managing the forested areas of the ranch and reestablishing trees, especially in the riparian areas, makes a big difference for wildlife. Healthy trees and a diversity of plants within the forest canopy increases the amount of wildlife habitat while improving plant and animal diversity.

Forest Conservation

As a former professional forester, Steve Coale has the knowledge, understanding and passion for this effort. He and his ranch staff have planted thousands of trees. The landscape has changed dramatically since the ranch was purchased in 2014.

Healthy forests result in maximizing plant and wildlife diversity