The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGF) and other partners joined forces with dedicated landowners to create North Dakota’s largest hunter access tract. The Richard Angus Ranch Access Project covers 20,153 acres. It also improves access to two adjacent state land sections covering another 1,280 acres.
“We are grateful to Byron and Kathy Richard for their willingness to recognize both the conservation values of their land and for allowing hunters free, walk-in access,” said Blake Henning, RMEF chief conservation officer.
The ranch, located approximately 15 miles north of Beach in extreme west-central North Dakota near the Montana border, is now part of NDGF’s Private Lands Open to Sportsmen program. A 10-year agreement allows hunters immediate access to what was formerly known as Beaver Creek Ranch.
The landscape features high-quality grassland with woody draws, bluffs, buttes and a winding Beaver Creek that offers quality habitat for elk, deer, pronghorn, turkeys and a wide array of other wildlife.
Volunteers also removed two miles of old fence and replaced it with wildlife-friendly fencing and better distributed water sources.
RMEF’s Torstenson Family Endowment (TFE) and Project Advisory Committee, NDGF, Pittman-Robertson funds, Mule Deer Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation and Pheasants Forever provided funding for the project.
RMEF uses proceeds from the TFE solely to further its core mission programs of permanent land protection, habitat stewardship, elk restoration and hunting heritage.