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Ten Sleep, Wyo. (February 19, 2025) — The ����APP proudly announces Carter Ranch, the home of Carter Country Meats in northern Washakie County on the western slope of the Big Horn Mountains, is now an ����APP Certified Bird-Friendly habitat. The certification, awarded through ����APP’s Conservation Ranching program, recognizes lands managed with a focus on birds and biodiversity.

The ����APP Conservation Ranching program is an ambitious and growing effort to bend the grassland bird curve through partnerships with farmers and ranchers. The program operates through a bird-friendly land certification that recognizes producers who meet rigorous requirements centered on habitat management, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare. Once certified, producers can use the ����APP Certified Bird-Friendly seal for packaging and promotional purposes of beef and bison products grazed on these certified lands. Carter Ranch joins over 100 other ranches across 14 states that have collectively brought nearly 3 million acres under bird-friendly management.

Operated by RC Carter and family, Carter Ranch has been a cornerstone of the Wyoming ranching community for 60 years. The ranch, purchased by RC Carter’s grandfather in 1964, spans approximately 47,000 grazeable acres, including owned and permitted public lands. Over the past decade, the ranch has been in the midst of a significant transformation, shifting towards regenerative practices that use nature as a guide and cattle as a land management tool to foster healthy ecosystems. The landscape consists of native grassland and sagebrush steppe carefully managed for ecological health. “We put soil health first, this approach has allowed us to double our soil organic matter in just four years,” RC Carter said.

With vast rangeland pastures and a diversity of habitats, Carter Ranch is positioned as a major contributor to bird conservation. Cidney Handy, ����APP’s local range ecologist, says Carter Ranch’s features, including expansive native grasslands, mid-slope and bottomland shrublands, open valleys, expansive native grasslands, mature woodlands, and riparian habitats, offer rich and varied environments for a wide range of avian species. The ranch's proximity to extensive public lands further enhances its ecological connectivity to the greater region.

"Carter Ranch is a prime example of how well-managed rotational grazing can be the basis for what’s known in the biology business as grassland heterogeneity,” Handy said, “Basically, we want a mosaic or different layers of habitat pieced together. "Under a watchful manager like RC Carter, cattle are used as a tool to create biological impact and cycle above ground nutrients back to the soil.”

This is how she says it works in practice at Carter Ranch: One area might receive high-intensity grazing – when cattle graze an area quickly and are then moved away – providing patches of short vegetation for species like the Burrowing Owl and Ferruginous Hawk. In an adjacent pasture, the grassland area is afforded an extended period of rest – prohibited from any grazing for a longer time frame – allowing for taller vegetation structure, benefiting species such as the Sagebrush Sparrow, Lark Bunting, and Loggerhead Shrike."

Beef from Carter Country Meats grazed on ����APP Certified Bird-Friendly Land is in boxes and specific cuts.

For more information about ����APP Conservation Ranching nationally, please contact ConservationRanching@����APP.org.

About ����APP Conservation Ranching

A wildlife habitat initiative of the ����APP with a unique market connection, ����APP Conservation Ranching aims to stabilize declining grassland bird populations in partnership with ranchers. ����APP Conservation Ranching’s enrollment includes over 100 ranches and nearly 3 million acres that have earned status as ����APP Certified Bird-Friendly Land. Incentivizing this habitat work for birds and biodiversity are consumers with an appetite for conservation, who support it by purchasing products grazed on these lands. Shoppers see a special package designation – the ����APP Certified Bird-Friendly seal – that sets these products apart. For more information, visit .