Tonkin Ranch

Tonkin Ranch

Nevada Gold Mines donated Tonkin Ranch to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service as part of the Sage Grouse Bank Enabling Agreement. Portions of the area within the Tonkin Ranch conservation easement provide significant habitat for greater sage-grouse and numerous other wildlife species such as big game and pygmy rabbits, the latter of which is a species of Conservation Priority for Nevada. Habitat includes basin wildrye-montane, big sagebrush-upland with trees, black sagebrush, low sagebrush, montane riparian, pinyon-juniper woodland and wet meadow–montane, which provide escape cover, forage, and nesting cover to wildlife.
The primary conservation value at the Tonkin Ranch is habitat for greater sage-grouse. Other wildlife species, particularly those associated with sagebrush and meadow montane habitats will benefit from the treatments designed to improve or protect habitat quality for sage grouse. Pygmy rabbits, which have been noted at the Tonkin Ranch, would be a case in point. Numerous other species of conservation priority or special status would also benefit from habitat preservation and restoration treatments.
Additional conservation values at the Tonkin Ranch include agricultural and cultural values due to its historic ranching use. Grazing has long been a part of the land management system for the Tonkin Ranch property. The area provides open space and scenic values for use and enjoyment by humans and wildlife. Springs on the property may have supported historic and prehistoric use by European settlers and earlier Native Americans, as well as later use for agriculture and ranching.