Conservation is everyone’s responsibility.
We work to preserve the beauty of wildlife through environmental stewardship.
Our Mission
Founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist Joe Ricketts, The Ricketts Conservation Foundation supports the conservation of wildlife and wilderness areas, promoting the importance of environmental stewardship as an enduring value. Underlying the Foundation’s mission is the belief that conservation is everyone’s responsibility.
In a world facing increasingly complex environmental challenges, private sector resources play an ever-greater role in the conservation of wildlife and wilderness areas. By answering this need, and encouraging others to do the same, the Ricketts Conservation Foundation aims to make a difference in the quality of life enjoyed by future generations.
Our Projects
The Clarks Nutcracker: My Whitebark Pine Story
The Wind River Range (WRR) is a scenic, 100-mile-long mountain range that includes the highest point in Wyoming, Gannett Peak (13,804’), and 19 of the next 20 highest peaks in Wyoming. This expansive range includes part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and three designated wilderness areas. Among this vast expanse with 500+ named lakes you may find something unexpected: Common Loons, the rarest breeding bird species in Wyoming.
Where Loons Hide and RCF Seeks: Wyoming’s Wind River Range
The Wind River Range (WRR) is a scenic, 100-mile-long mountain range that includes the highest point in Wyoming, Gannett Peak (13,804’), and 19 of the next 20 highest peaks in Wyoming. This expansive range includes part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and three designated wilderness areas. Among this vast expanse with 500+ named lakes you may find something unexpected: Common Loons, the rarest breeding bird species in Wyoming.
Curlew Collaboration: Working with our Neighbors to Track North America’s Largest Shorebird
Earlier this summer, the RCF crew teamed up with biologists Jay & Heidi Carlisle from Boise State University’s Intermountain Bird Observatory (IBO) to attach satellite transmitters to Long-Billed Curlews on and around Jackson Fork Ranch in Bondurant, WY.
The Early Bird Gets the Ice
The number 17 does not come to mind when you think of big numbers, but when you’re working with Common Loons in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), an isolated population numbering only 22 territorial pairs, small numbers like 17 can be relatively massive.
Start of Season and Covid-19
The number 17 does not come to mind when you think of big numbers, but when you’re working with Common Loons in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), an isolated population numbering only 22 territorial pairs, small numbers like 17 can be relatively massive.
Sometimes 17 Is a Big Number
The number 17 does not come to mind when you think of big numbers, but when you’re working with Common Loons in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), an isolated population numbering only 22 territorial pairs, small numbers like 17 can be relatively massive.
Monument Ridge Aspen Regeneration Study
Since 2018, the Ricketts Conservation Foundation has worked with Bridger-Teton National Forest, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies to assess how forest management activities designed to benefit game animals affect non-target species.
The Loon Restoration Project
Reestablishing loons in their former breeding range and helping populations recover in Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota, and Massachusetts.
The Swan Project
Increasing the Trumpeter Swan population in greater Yellowstone National Park.
The Clark’s Nutcracker Project
Protecting a centuries-old relationship between the Clark’s Nutcracker and the whitebark pine in Yellowstone National Park.
Foundation News
The Clarks Nutcracker: My Whitebark Pine Story
The Wind River Range (WRR) is a scenic, 100-mile-long mountain range that includes the highest point in Wyoming, Gannett Peak (13,804’), and 19 of the next 20 highest peaks in Wyoming. This expansive range includes part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and three designated wilderness areas. Among this vast expanse with 500+ named lakes you may find something unexpected: Common Loons, the rarest breeding bird species in Wyoming.
Where Loons Hide and RCF Seeks: Wyoming’s Wind River Range
The Wind River Range (WRR) is a scenic, 100-mile-long mountain range that includes the highest point in Wyoming, Gannett Peak (13,804’), and 19 of the next 20 highest peaks in Wyoming. This expansive range includes part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and three designated wilderness areas. Among this vast expanse with 500+ named lakes you may find something unexpected: Common Loons, the rarest breeding bird species in Wyoming.
Trumpeter Swan Cygnets Released in Yellowstone National Park
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park may be well-known for its role in rebuilding populations of large mammals like grizzly bears, wolves and bison, yet trumpeter swans have a similar story of dogged recovery that is not as well known.