NIBLEY – The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) awarded $250,000 from the LeRay McAllister Working Farm and Ranch Fund to Elkhorn Ranch Phase 2, located west of Hwy 165 in Nibley to turn a Utah working farmland and ranch into a conservation easement to ensure perpetuity. This new agricultural conservation easement ensures it will remain dedicated to farming and ranching for generations to come.
Cache County approved the funding for the Fuhriman family’s Elkhorn Ranch. The family has owned the property since 1944. The Bear River Land Conservancy sought county funding to support placing 115 acres west of Hwy 165 in Nibley into a conservation easement. That request was reviewed by members of the Cache Open Space Advisory Committee and approved with changes.
The property to be preserved is estimated to be worth about $4.1 million, according to Gabriel Murray of the Bear River Land Conservancy. In their Phase II proposal to COSAC, the landowners requested that the BRLC commit to funding 48 percent of that easement property (about $1.9 million with federal funds) and Cache County commit to funding 37% (about $1.5 million from the Open Space Bond funds). The Fuhriman family would also commit to covering the 15 percent remainder (about $615,000).
The LeRay McAllister Working Farm and Ranch Fund is designed to help agricultural landowners protect their land from development through conservation easements.
This easement limits non-agricultural use of the land while allowing owners to continue farming or ranching. Besides Elkhorn, UDAF awarded five other projects in Morgan, Box Elder, Wasatch, and Utah counties preserving 5,500 acres of diverse array of agricultural land.
“The LeRay McAllister Fund is vital to preserving Utah’s agricultural legacy,” said UDAF Commissioner Craig Buttars. “By supporting these conservation easements, we are helping farmers and ranchers secure their livelihoods while also ensuring that future generations can benefit from locally grown food and a robust agricultural economy. We are proud to stand with these landowners and support their commitment to responsible land stewardship.”
The LeRay McAllister Fund was created to safeguard Utah’s agricultural landscapes and economy since 2002. Since its inception, the fund has conserved nearly 100,000 acres of critical lands in Utah.
Building partnerships with landowners, federal agencies, land trust organizations, and local stakeholders, this fund provides the financial resources needed to secure easements that protect agricultural lands from development.
These latest awards highlight the success of the program that is preserving Utah’s agricultural resources and ensuring a future for the state’s farming and ranching communities.