Bear Lodge Cattle Company Completes Conservation Easement to Protect 2,280 Acres in Crook County

CHEYENNE, WYOMING — The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust (Land Trust) is pleased to announce the conservation of 2,280 acres in Crook County through a voluntary conservation easement completed in partnership with Bear Lodge Cattle Company. The project ensures the ranch will remain a productive working landscape while protecting important wildlife habitat, open space, and natural resources for future generations.

The Campstool Ranch, owned and managed by Bear Lodge Cattle Company’s Lincoln Driskill, is located southwest of Hulett near Devils Tower National Monument and in close proximity to the Black Hills National Forest.

The family has been ranching in the surrounding area — including portions of the conserved property — since the 1910s, continuing a long tradition of agricultural stewardship in the region. Today, the property supports a grazing operation for approximately 500 cow/calf pairs and produces dryland alfalfa and smooth brome hay. Managed as part of a larger ranching operation across surrounding rangelands, the property allows the managers to graze livestock primarily on private lands. Historically, sheep and bison have also been part of the ranch’s agricultural production.

“The beauty of conservation easements through the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust, and the reason we support them so much, is our ability to continue in our production agriculture endeavors as we have been for generations,” said Lincoln Driskill.

The conserved property features sweeping views of rolling hills, upland rangeland, and ponderosa pine forest. Its varied landscape includes open grasslands interspersed with timbered foothills, ridges, and rugged draws and canyons.

As recreation and visitation increase in the Black Hills region, rural and residential development pressure continues to grow in Crook County, making conservation efforts like this increasingly important.

“I am obviously a bit biased, but Crook County and the Wyoming side of the Black Hills was one of the best hidden gems a person could find,” said Driskill. “There is no doubt that we have been found, and I am very proud that we are able to keep the Diamond Bar, of the Campstool Ranch, and some of the Devils Tower view-shed development free using conservation easements.”

The ranch provides valuable wildlife habitat and lies within several seasonal big game ranges, including those for elk, mule deer, and pronghorn, and is located just west of mule deer crucial winter range.

Several Wyoming Species of Greatest Conservation Need have been documented on the property, including the red-headed woodpecker, dickcissel, Lewis’ woodpecker, American kestrel, golden eagle, bald eagle, and peregrine falcon. Much of the eastern portion of the property also falls within the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Aquatic Crucial Habitat Priority Range in the Belle Fourche River watershed, an important source of agricultural and municipal water for downstream users.

This easement represents the landowner’s third conservation easement with the Land Trust. The property lies between and adjacent to two other Land Trust-held easements and borders lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Wyoming State Trust lands.

Located approximately 13 miles north of Keyhole Reservoir, the project helps expand a growing corridor of conserved working lands in the region. “This conservation easement is a testament to what can be accomplished through strong, enduring partnerships with Wyoming’s ranching families,” said Land Trust Executive Director, Christine Adams. “Bear Lodge Cattle Company’s deep roots in this landscape and their continued commitment to stewardship made this project possible. By working together, we are ensuring this land remains a productive, working ranch while protecting the natural resources and open spaces that define Crook County for generations to come.”

With this project, the Land Trust has now conserved 11,985 acres in Crook County and is currently working on three additional conservation projects in the area. Funding for the conservation easement was provided by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust (WWNRT), and Atira Conservation. 

“Atira Conservation is thrilled to partner with the Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust for the first time,” said Atira Conservation Executive Director, Nicole Adimey. “We recognize that large-scale conservation efforts depend on the stewardship and engagement of private landowners, and we are pleased to have assisted in the completion of the Diamond Bar Conservation Easement which will protect vital resources.”