Building a Better Ranch

By: Mitch Kezar

When Gary and Amy Cammack looked out over the open prairie near Union Center, South Dakota, several decades ago, they thought how nice it would be to have a big woods to create a break in the open and endless prairie landscape. That forest seemed a bit of a stretch, but they started planting. Thirty years later they have planted over 30,000 trees.

“Years from now, the only evidence of Amy and I having ever been here will be our kids, these trees, and the wildlife,” says Gary, as he ponders the landscape today. Wildlife on the ranch includes deer, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, skunks, raccoons, mule deer, whitetail, antelope, and hundreds of species of birds.

Gary and Amy both grew up on ranches, got married right out of high school, and worked at various businesses. When the Union Center ranch came up for sale in 1984, they purchased it.

Plant diversity on the rangeland was almost nonexistent. The sandy soil meant bad erosion. “The thing I remember the most was the needle grass, or needle and thread,” says Gary. The viability as a ranch was going to be tough. Things had to change. The NRCS in Sturgis helped them put together a plan for a water system, cross fencing, and planting trees.