Jackson Hole Land Trust set out to capture the spirit of the ranch managers of conservation easement protected lands with photographer Anne Muller. These are the men and women who keep Jackson Hole's agricultural lands in production.

2. Jackson Hole Land Trust set out to document the people behind the areas iconic conservation easement protected lands that still remain in agricultural production. Specifically, the ranch managers, the unsung heroes of the valleys’ horse and cattle operations who labor sun up to sun down to keep the fields green, the ditches flowing, the fences mended, the hay cut and the animals fed. These are the men and women for whom agricultural tradition is not just a fleeting memory, but an everyday gesture. In their work-gloved hands rests the maintenance of some of the last vestiges of ranching culture in the area. In the process of this project we discovered what drives these individuals and how little public awareness there is about the amount of work that goes into these open pastures and livestock bedecked vistas, still characteristic of Jackson Hole despite the march of modern time.

3. Chris and Jerome Young make their home in Buffalo Valley. Chris’ family homesteaded in the area in 1910. They raise their own cattle as well as manage the Hatchet Ranch owned by Barbara Carlsberg and the Hatchet Meadow owned by Jackson Hole Land Trust. Between the acres they own and the acres they manage this couple keeps 1200 acres in agricultural production. In their hands lie the green and open meadows of Buffalo Valley.

18. Chance Abel manages the two-thousand acre Jackson Land and Cattle property in Spring Gulch, owned by Richard Fields. The operation is aimed at promoting American Quarter Horses, specifically roping and cutting horses. The land is grazed by both the roping cows as well as lease grazed. Nostalgic buck rail fencing frames the operation up Spring Gulch, which remains scenically green and cattle covered under Chance’s guidance.

26. There is no finer land stewardship than the gloved hands that know and work the land. Jackson Hole Land Trust is honored to work with the agricultural producers of the area to help make keeping the ranch an ongoing reality.