Sustainability Initiatives

One of the driving forces for our reasons in purchasing a large ranch were to be as self sustainable as possible. We have built a solar system with battery backup that provides much of the electrical needs of the ranch

Our 50’x80’ shop is heated with a wood fired boiler and utilizes radiant floor heating to keep the shop warm (and our firetruck water tanks from freezing). Wood is a renewable resource on the ranch since we have hundreds of acres of forest that routinely needs pruning and care. We also plant new trees every year. Our lodge (as well as our personal residence) also utilizes radiant floor heating, both currently use propane, but we preemptively made provisions to convert these to wood boilers and can switch if the need ever arises.

We raise our own cattle, poultry, and produce. We have a poultry barn where kids can enjoy collecting eggs and visiting with our dozens of chickens, ducks, turkeys, and rhea (a cousin to ostridges). We have several different breeds of chickens including, plymouth rock, brahma, silkies, feather foots, and polish. We also raise goats and usually have some young kids that the other kind of kids love to play with (the goats are great landscapers and we don’t have to pay them much).

We have our own alfalfa and grass fields that we harvest and bale to feed our horses and cows through the winters.

One of the most dramatic conservation efforts we have done is converting over a hundred acres of crop fields into bird habitats and food plots for wildlife. When we bought the ranch it had been a cattle ranch for over 60 years and it was grazed down to nothing every year, therefore there was nothing left for the wild animals to eat. When we bought the ranch there were no elk, no pheasants and the deer were sparse. We still graze cattle on the ranch by leasing the grazing rights April through June, which “moows” down the spring growth which has several advantages, the most important being that it greatly reduces wildfire risk, but also makes the canyon area extremely nice for hiking and adventuring (try not to step in a cow patty, they smell funny). We leave the fall growth for the deer and elk.

Historically (before it was a cattle ranch) the land that is now Scotlyn Ranch was a wintering ground for elk and had a plethora of mule deer and whitetail. Since we have bought the ranch and changed the nature of the ranch, planted food plots and bird habitats, in just the last three years we have seen amazing differences due to our efforts! The whitetail are coming back into the area, we have hundreds of beautiful mule deer that now call this home, we have dozens of covey of chukars, pheasants have returned to the ranch, and the last two years we have had two separate herds of elk winter here on the ranch. We love seeing the animals, it is amazing to watch when 70 head of elk are eating in the field behind the lodge.

In conjunction with Idaho Fish and Game biologists, Scotlyn Ranch repurposed over 100 acres of wheat fields into bird habitat and we raise and release hundreds of Pheasant and Chukar onto the ranch each year to supplement the wild bird populations.

In furtherance to support the wildlife, this year we dug several water capture ponds near springs and every year we look for ways to enhance the ranch for the benefit of the wildlife.

The water from your showers help irrigate our fields, and if you don’t finish your dinner, do not dispair, all food waste is fed to our animals who LOVE it!

The owners of Scotlyn Ranch strongly believe in conservation and sustainability and continue to look for more ways to be good stewards to our beautiful land. By your visiting Scotlyn Ranch, a large portion of your vacation dollars are being used to further conservation efforts and long term sustainability while you get to enjoy the efforts made so far by Scott and Jaclyn.