Manderson family recognized as Big Horn Basin’s Landowner of the Year

Posted 12/3/20

John and Nancy Joyce of Manderson were recently recognized as Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s landowner of the year for the Big Horn Basin.

The Landowner of the Year award is presented …

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Manderson family recognized as Big Horn Basin’s Landowner of the Year

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John and Nancy Joyce of Manderson were recently recognized as Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s landowner of the year for the Big Horn Basin.

The Landowner of the Year award is presented to Wyoming landowners who have demonstrated outstanding practices in wildlife management, habitat improvement, and conservation techniques on their properties. These landowners also cooperate with the Game and Fish to provide access to hunters and anglers on their properties. Award recipients are nominated by the department and selected by the regional leadership teams as model citizens for the conservation, ethical use and stewardship of Wyoming’s natural resources.

Erin Leonetti, statewide fish passage biologist, nominated the Joyces.

“John and Nancy Joyce exemplify the kind of landowners who want to conserve and protect Wyoming’s wildlife and Game and Fish is proud to recognize them,” Leonetti said.

The Joyce property is located east of Manderson on the Nowood River. The species-rich river meanders through their property for 7 miles, supporting a cold and warm water fishery.  The Nowood River supports up to 20 different species of fish — sauger, burbot, flathead chub, mountain sucker and smallmouth bass, to name a few. The Joyce family has over 3 river miles of the Nowood River enrolled as a walk-in fishing area and 371 acres enrolled in as a walk-in hunt area to hunt antelope and deer.

John and Nancy Joyce manage their property with the help of their sons. The family maintains 1,500 acres of land where they graze sheep and grow crops using water from the Harmony Ditch diversion off the Nowood River. In 2006 and 2007 an entrainment study estimated more than 55,000 fish were trapped in the Harmony Ditch each irrigation season and permanently lost from the Nowood River fishery.

“The Joyces are conservation-minded and wanted to prevent the loss of fish down their canal, allow for year round passage in the Nowood River, and eliminate annual maintenance to divert water,” Leonetti said. So, the couple collaborated with the Game and Fish and came up with a plan to meet those goals.

“The fish passage project was met with significant challenges and setbacks along the way,” Leonetti said. “Through all the trials and tribulations however, the Joyces never wavered in their support and persevered to complete this project.”

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