Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust officials are looking for contributions to help fund their sustainable wide open land preservation actions with an auction launched this month for travel adventures, jewelry and "much more" they say.

The auction, which continues through August 26, will help fund "conservation efforts in Wyoming," they note.

To make bids and see what is being offered, go to www.wsgalt.org and click on Annual Roundup Barbecue.

The annual barbeque is set for Aug. 29 at Pole Creek Ranch in Cheyenne. Tickets to the event may also be purchased at the website.

Wyoming Land Trust Seeks Contributions to Help Preserve Wide Open Spaces

The Stock Growers Land Trust announced the hiring of a new conservation director, Bo Alley, a Wyoming  native with family roots deep in ranching and agriculture. Alley's maternal great-grandfather, Jim Grieve, began ranching in Natrona County in 1893 on the historic UC Ranch.

The Grieves purchased and operated the Diamond Ring and Dumbbell Ranch Company.

On his father's side, grandfather Alley managed the John Hay sheep company and was active in the state's sheep industry.

The auction and barbecue trigger a period of fund solicitation on the part of the organization that now holds more than 204,135 acres of Wyoming working landscape in a preserved state for wide open ranching. The trust remains the 9th largest easement holder in the nation, gathering acreage from contributions for more than 140 years.

The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust is the Cowboy State's first Wyoming-based statewide agricultural land conservation organization, focused specifically on conserving ranchland and ranching operations in order to preserve the state's open spaces, natural habitats and rural communities that they support.

Effort helps purchase lands for continued use in agricultural operation

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 The trust recently gained national attention for partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop the nation's first greater sage-grouse conservation bank.

The bank will manage a vast expanse of central Wyoming for sage-grouse, mule deer and other wildlife, allowing energy development and other economic activities to proceed on lands elsewhere in the state.

The Pathfinder Ranch at the heart of the project, a 235,000-acre cattle operation near Casper and the Pathfinder Reservoir, provides significant habitat for wildlife.

One other example of the trust's activities is the     easement of nearly 2,000 acres of productive cattle ranchland in Crook County into the Stock Growers program. The Wood Ranch donated the land to the trust as an example of how  acreage is accumulated under the  umbrella of the land preservation organization.

The trust also placed 840 acres  under its protection in Sublette County last fall from the Martin Place project, bringing total acreage under trust agreements to 38,312 acres in the county.

One of the most significant land conservation initiatives in the state was achieved in plans underway for  preservation of Bear Lodge Cattle Company's 7,000 acre project on lands bordering the Devils Tower national monument.

A popular trust project is the annual selection of the recipient of the Kurt Bucholz Award for a recipient considered to be an ardent supporter of conserving Wyoming's landscapes.

Nominees will be recognized at the barbecue, when the recipient will be announced.