Boyd Ranch

Conserving a historic working ranch and critical wildlife habitat

Boyd Ranch in northeast Nevada is a historic and ecologically significant working cattle ranch first homesteaded by the Boyd family in the late 1870s and still run by the same family today. The nearly 12,000-acre ranch was one of the first established on the Upper Humboldt River and the Elko region generally – an area now facing significant threat of subdivision and development. Besides being a successful cattle operation, the Boyd Ranch is a wildlife oasis, providing critical migration, nesting, feeding, and breeding habitat to a diverse number of species that live in or pass through the Great Basin. 

Most important to wildlife are the abundant water resources of the ranch in this otherwise extremely arid region, including roughly 15.5 miles of rivers and creeks. Braided wetlands, marshes, upland sagebrush steppe, and riparian corridors are home to numerous wildlife and more than 200 species of birds, including greater sandhill crane, greater sage grouse, Swainson's hawk, and other raptors, songbirds, and waterfowl. The Boyd Ranch is so critical to resident and migratory bird species along the Pacific Flyway that it has been designated a United States Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society. 

In June 2011, thanks to the dedication and vision of the Boyd Family, ALC completed a conservation easement on the property, permanently protecting the ranch and its abundant natural resources. Funding for the easement was provided by the Nevada Q1 Program.

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