Lava Lake Land & Livestock, based near Carey, is redefining the face of Western sheep ranching and conservation.
The company, which was recently honored with the Idaho Wildlife Society's special recognition award, was created out of several sheep outfits bought five years ago by a San Francisco couple named Brian and Kathleen Bean.
The company's holdings include 24,000 acres of private land and grazing privileges on 730,000 acres of public land allotments. Most are between Shoshone and Carey, but the network of U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and state-owned parcels extends into the Pioneer Mountains and as far north as the Boulder Mountains.
The award was given to the ranch in recognition of the company's work to accomplish "landscape scale conservation" in South Central Idaho.
Landscape-scale conservation moves the focus from individual species to an entire landscape to protect plant communities and wildlife, especially species that need large areas to survive, said Tess O'Sullivan, Lava Lake's program manager for science and conservation.
"Lava Lake is focused on maintaining the fabric of this large, unfragmented landscape which makes it so rich in wildlife as well as a great place to live and recreate," O'Sullivan said. "Running a sheep operation has allowed us to think and work at this scale due to the large area that our permits cover."
Lava Lake Chief Operating Officer Mike Stevens said the ranch's work appears to be paying off.
"Over the past five years, we have been working to develop both a conservation effort and a grazing program that help protect this rich and spectacular landscape, while also producing high-quality, healthful lamb," Stevens said. "We have worked extensively with many scientists and organizations to better understand how to achieve our mission."
Stevens said the award recognizes Lava Lake's efforts and also the contributions made by agency and conservation organization biologists.
The Wildlife Society is an international organization of wildlife professionals "dedicated to excellence in wildlife stewardship through science and education." The group's membership totals nearly 9,000 and includes wildlife professionals and students from more than 60 countries.
According to The Wildlife Society, the special recognition award is intended to honor people or groups that have made outstanding contributions to wildlife conservation; management, science or conservation education; the wildlife profession; or to a specific area or endeavor, species, community, ecosystem or region.
"The conservation commitment and the scale of work accomplished and underway by Lava Lake Land & Livestock, while simultaneously developing a new business, is especially noteworthy and deserving of recognition," said Gregg Servheen, The Wildlife Society's president.
These before and after photographs illustrate some of the conservation work undertaken by Lava Lake Land & Livestock along Fish Creek, northeast of Carey. To achieve the above results, ranch managers simply fenced the riparian area, below, to keep livestock out. Courtesy photos
