SCLT stewards the Big Goose Natural Area with the same care and education we encourage landowners and ranch managers in our community to practice. SCLT collaborates with landowners and community partners around the education and implementation of wildlife-friendly fences. These fences allow for easier passage by wildlife with minimized risk of entanglement while continuing to contain livestock and mark boundaries. In 2025, wildlife-friendly fencing will be installed around the main traffic areas with a long-term goal of replacing all fencing at the Big Goose Natural Area with wildlife-friendly fencing. Learn more about SCLT can help YOU with wildlife-friendly fencing here.

Effective management of invasive species is a responsibility of all landowners to ensure healthy habitats and prevent the deterioration of native ecosystems. The Big Goose Natural Area has several specific invasive species of annual grasses, perennial shrubs, and encroaching woodlands. SCLT’s goal is to stop the continued encroachment of juniper trees on the grasslands. Allowing grasslands to convert to a woody-tree system has large-scale impacts on the land, including reduced streamflow and lower rates of groundwater recharge, greater fire intensities compared to grassland fuels, and the collapse of a grassland ecosystem. SCLT is doing this work through an integrated management system in partnership with NRCS and UW Extension Agriculture Research. Adding beneficial native vegetation and ideal nesting sites for birds and bats will help attract pollinators and increase wildlife activity throughout the Big Goose Natural Area.

The Big Goose Natural Area is fortunate to have pastures of various sizes and forages. Care for these pastures is being done with a rotational grazing plan through a grazing lease in partnership with NRCS. Through the rotation grazing plan, natural springs and irrigation systems will be used to help bring water to livestock and allow for appropriate utilization of water rights to irrigate pasture lands. This is in addition to the long-term goal of stabilizing the streambank along Big Goose Creek through the property and overall habitat improvement for the local ecosystem.

Over time, SCLT plans to transform its indoor space to create interpretive displays that showcase historical and present-day ecological facts and findings of the natural environment surrounding the Big Goose Natural Area. This localized education environment will allow the Big Goose Natural Area to be an engaging resource when outdoor conditions force the fun and learning to happen indoors.

The Big Goose Valley has long been an oasis for people and wildlife on the foothills grasslands of northern Wyoming. In the early 20^th century, part of the land that is now the Big Goose Natural Area and adjoining was home to a truck farm that produced award-winning red onions, table squash, and turnips! K.N. Garden operated from 1906 to 1919 and was operated by Japanese immigrants Kasaburo Okazaki (later Kasaburo Kimura), Jiro Kaiizumi (known as Jiro Kai), Gengoro Nishizaki (known as George Nishi), and Jitsusaburo Yamashita (known as Jay). K.N. Gardens grew a variety of vegetables sold and shared with the valley’s residents. They also raised livestock. In 1919, the owners sold the livestock, equipment, and goods, and the four men went their separate ways. Portions of the profits were invested back into Sheridan; Kasaburo purchased the Hotel Rex, and Nishizaki purchased Star Grocery.

According to a preliminary archaeological survey, the Big Goose Natural Area is home to an aviation beacon. This beacon is a stone circle atop a grassy knoll near the property’s south boundary. With Sheridan County Airport approximately one mile to the east, this stone circle may have been used for navigation by pilots in the early days of aviation. SCLT continues to research the origins and use of this stone circle so its history can be preserved and its story told for generations to come.

Big Goose Creek, the namesake of the Big Goose Natural Area, has been and continues to be the primary water source for people and wildlife around Sheridan.  Known to the Crow Tribe as Aashkuale, meaning ‘little river,’ Big Goose Creek flows east from Cloud Peak in the Bighorn Mountains into the valley and then north into Sheridan, where it meets Little Goose Creek at Mill Park downtown, where the two streams form Goose Creek. Plains Indian Tribes utilized a cliff along the creek known as a “buffalo jump” to harvest and process bison. Big Goose Creek’s waters have also been used to mill flour at the historic Sheridan Flour Company and brew beer for the former Sheridan Brewery. Floods were a significant hazard to the community. In the 1960s, sections of the creeks were channelized to prevent flooding. In the 2020s, work has begun to restore some of the original stream’s form and improve habitat within the flood-control channel. SCLT is also working to improve stream habitat within the Big Goose Natural Area. Take SCLT’s Big Goose Creek Walking and Virtual Tours here.

Over time, SCLT plans to transform its indoor space to showcase historical exhibits to help visitors better understand essential stories from local history today, so they are not forgotten tomorrow. Preserving this history and telling its story on-site will help make the Big Goose Natural Area an engaging space year-round.

SCLT is creating recreational trails that allow people to enjoy the beautiful views and explore everything the Big Goose Natural Area offers. The initial trails will showcase the pasture. Look for short spurs that take you to fishing and water trail access points along Big Goose Creek. Later, SCLT will develop additional trails that allow you to enjoy the vistas and valleys of the property’s southern hills. In the future, the property may be open to equestrian use, too. Whether on foot, bike, or eBike, Big Goose Natural Area has a space for you. Check out all of SCLT’s community trails and other ways you can explore & enjoy Sheridan County here.

The Big Goose Natural Area beckons everyone who visits to immerse themselves in its beauty and tranquility. What better way to learn than to step outside and enter Mother Nature’s “open-air” classroom? The Big Goose Natural Area hosts Discovery Sessions, Unplug programs, workshops, training sessions, outdoor laboratories, and the annual Backyard BBQ. SCLT also invites community groups and nonprofit organizations to host classes outdoors and at the SCLT Community Rooms. Check out what fun, meaningful events SCLT has scheduled here.

The Big Goose Natural Area is home to an abundance of species on land and in the water. Some, like mule deer, mink, and trout, live on the Big Goose Natural Area year-round. Others, like Osprey and Sandhill Cranes, visit seasonally. You can also search the land for many varieties of flowers and plants that comprise our grasslands, upland range, and creekside riparian habitats. SCLT is working hard to improve the land and water for the wildlife that depend on it. Regardless of the season, you can connect to nature in many ways here. Get your SCLT Pocket Nature Guides to help you learn more about what you see here.

Big Goose Creek is the jewel of the Big Goose Natural Area. In the spring of 2025, SCLT opened a half-mile section of Big Goose Creek to the public for the first time. This new public fishery features non-native game species like rainbow and brown trout, smallmouth bass, and rock bass, in addition to overlooked native species like minnows, suckers, and a small species of catfish called a stonecat. To help conserve this fishery so it remains productive, SCLT has implemented catch-and-release fishing and the use of lures and flies with barbless hooks only. Anglers cannot keep any fish they catch, and cannot use bait like worms, insects, eggs, scented Powerbait, or barbed hooks. SCLT is also opening this section of the creek to kayaking, canoeing, and tubing. We are also piloting a “floater-friendly” fence that allows people and debris to pass through the fence while maintaining a secure barrier for livestock. Once the fence is fine-tuned, we hope to work with landowners to install these fences on their land so people can enjoy a fun day on the river in more places. All anglers and floaters are asked to use the short spur trails that lead to access points along the creek. Over time, SCLT intends to improve these areas, making them accessible for even more people in our community.