The Rancher

I mentioned that we took the shuttle in the last post because I sat by the driver on the way back.  She was a very pretty woman, in her fifties.  I asked her about her work, and she said that she and her husband had a ranch on the other side of  the mountains, seven sections, but that they both had to work outside.  She works at the retail store (Tamarack Outfitters) in Waterton, but when the store got the contract for the shuttle, she had a Class 4 drivers license, which meant she could drive the shuttle bus as well.  Her husband works for Canada Parks, driving a snowplow in the winter, working on the road crew in the summer.  She said they were considered hobby ranchers, since they couldn't make a living on the ranch without outside jobs.

They have been married twenty-five years, and have two sons, both of whom work in construction in Fort Mcleod. They are both married and have one child apiece.  The sons would like to take over the ranch, but they can't make a living at it.  These people have cattle, about 350 head, and also breed thoroughbred quarter horses for ranch work - roping, herding, etc.  They have about 35 brood mares and two stallions.  She said the big ranchers were always trying to squeeze them out, and they often found cut fences.  The Nature Conservancy has been trying to help create a buffer zone around the parkland, and offer some big money if the ranchers promise not to allow development, but they only have a 1/4 section that would qualify, and the money isn't good enough.  I didn't quite understand the figures, but I believe she said the land was worth 2.5 million, and the Nature Conservancy was offering $700,000.  They grow hay, barley and oats to feed their own livestock.

Although the ranch has been in her husband's family for 70 years, they are thinking about downsizing, because it is getting increasingly hard to work the ranch and hold down two outside jobs apiece. Her job as a driver  and at the retail store is seasonal will only last another month or so, until the park is shut for the winter.