Southern Sheridan County Land Trust

James E. Ducey. June 29, 2023. Trust story. Grant County News 138(48): 1.

Land management practices with a focus on resource conservation continue to expand in the southern Sandhills near Lakeside.

The efforts include land purchases by Joel and Kathleen Sartore, of Lincoln, Nebraska. Mr. Sartore is a known photographer.

These efforts include notable land purchases.

The most recent purchase, according to the form 521 filed as a county record, was finalized in March 2022 for 2887 acres bought for $2,260,920 (basically $783 per acre).

This land that includes Snow Lake was previously a portion of the Arapaho Ranch owned by the Imig family. The other, larger portion of the ranch – including the ranch headquarters and its buildings – had a different buyer.

A prior purchase was finalized in January 2021 for 1863 acres with a price of $1.3 million, according to a county official (basically $689 per acre). The tract includes the predominant Thompson Lake. These parcels are contiguous to the most recent purchase just to the north with Wilson Ranch land to the east.

The first Sartore purchase was for rangeland and wet valley habitat west of Van Loon (i.e., Van Loan, according to homestead records) Lake in 2011. The property is on the southwest side of the Wilson Ranch.

Ownership, according to online information available (sheridan.gworks.com in June 2023), is indicated as Joel D. and Kathleen L. Sartore, Trustees (2924.93 acres) and JKS Walton LLC (2898.33 acres). Both have the same Lincoln contact address. Overall, there are about 5823 acres, according to the online parcel details. They are apparently parts of a land trust with no known name. There is also no known ranch name available despite an email request.

The two most recent purchases occurred with a specific intent of land available for purchase, as they were basically contiguous to the designated Wilson Flying Diamond Ranch land as notably managed by Jaclyn Wilson and her father Blaine Wilson. Bryan Wilson is also an indicated owner.

In 2006, the Wilson Ranch – then comprised of more than 15,000 acres – received the inaugural Aldo Leopold Conservation Award within Nebraska. Specific conservation efforts have included planting windbreaks, focused management of grass resources for the cattle, timing of hay harvest and a wetland restoration project to benefit wildbirds.

Studies of wildlife on the ranches is encouraged. This has included sorts of bat, beetle and insect survey research.

There are also some scattered bird records available from the mid-1990s and around 2004 few prominent lakes – notably Snow Lake – and wetlands in the area as observable from the county roads.

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