UW, CSU Foundations Proceed with Marketing Y Cross Ranch for Sale

The University of Wyoming Foundation and Colorado State University Research Foundation have decided to proceed with marketing the Y Cross Ranch for sale, with a commitment to use the proceeds to create endowments to support agriculture scholarships and internships.

The decision was made with the support of the presidents of the universities and the universities’ governing boards.

“The CSU Research Foundation and the UW Foundation are fully honoring the entire donor agreement and are tremendously grateful to Amy Davis and the Courtenay C. Davis Foundation for the generous gift of the Y Cross Ranch 18 years ago,” said Kathleen Henry and Ben Blalock, presidents of the respective university foundations, in a joint statement.

The ranch, located between Laramie and Cheyenne, will be marketed by Ranch Marketing Associates, which was selected by the foundations in 2012 after interviews with 12 Wyoming and Colorado real estate firms. The sale will be subject to a conservation easement.

Sale proceeds will be evenly divided between the two foundations and directed to endowments dedicated to uses consistent with the original 1997 gift agreement. Those include scholarships and internships for the purposes of studying agriculture and closely related fields such as natural resources, animal science and veterinary medicine.

“We expect that each endowment will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for our students and programs,” said Frank Galey, dean of UW’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Craig Beyrouty, dean of CSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “That will be a truly remarkable benefit for both institutions and our students.”

The sale will proceed under a typical ranch sale process.

“Our goal is to secure the best price for the property, and we are confident it will bring very attractive proposals,” Henry and Blalock said in their joint statement. “We have always taken our commitment to stewardship very seriously, and we will continue to do so by marketing the ranch for sale in a deliberative and transparent process open to all potential buyers for an outcome that will be a tremendous benefit to students at both institutions.”