OMAHA (DTN) -- Ted Turner left a legacy with his massive ranch holdings across five states, properties that his company says will continue to be protected following his death.

Turner died Wednesday at age 87 after suffering from Lewy Body Dementia, a progressive brain disease.

Over his life, Turner was able to acquire some of the largest ranch holdings in the country, as the media mogul also emphasized large-scale conservation on more than 2 million acres of ranchland. Turner was at the forefront of wealthy landowners seeking to turn properties into private preserves.

While Turner built a media empire in Georgia that became Turner Network Television (TNT) and CNN, he also developed a passion for Western ranches and bison. He started with a ranch purchase in Montana in the mid-1980s and expanded from there.

As of this year, The Land Report 100 ranked Turner as the fourth-largest private landowner in the country with his 2 million acres spread across 13 ranches in Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico and South Dakota.

At a flat price of $1,000 an acre, Turner's ranching and conservation empire would be worth at least $2 billion. The ranches are likely worth more given the large contiguous tracts he owned and the conservation investments Turner made to expand wildlife habitat and protect endangered species.

A 2024 CBS Sunday Morning feature on Turner's conservation and ranches stated that his efforts to protect those lands would be Turner's biggest legacy.

Turner's website noted in an article announcing his passing that the properties would be preserved. "The well-being of these properties and the species present on each was of utmost importance to Turner; therefore, Turner ensured that upon his passing, his lands will continue to be protected, limiting future development and parcellation."

His ranches in New Mexico topped 1.1 million acres, making him among the largest landowners in that state. His one ranch, Vermejo Park Ranch, in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, is 560,000 acres. Turner opened his three New Mexico ranches as vacation properties for guided tours, hunting, fishing, horseback riding and other activities.

He was considered the largest individual private landowner in Nebraska with more than 445,000 acres across the Sandhills region.

Turner also owned the 113,600-acre Flying D Ranch in southwest Montana, which also has a conservation easement through The Nature Conservancy. With a second ranch, Turned owned just under 127,000 acres in the state.

Across his ranches, Turner grew a bison herd of approximately 45,000 head, making him the largest private bison owner in the country. His herd provided meat for his restaurant chain, Ted's Montana Grill.

His focus on conservation and biodiversity also led Turner to create the Turner Endangered Species Fund in 1997.

In Nebraska, Turner Enterprises and Turner Ranches donated the 79,292-acre McGinley Ranch -- which straddles Nebraska and South Dakota -- to the Turner Institute of Ecoagriculture. The ranch was set up to work with the Center of Excellence for Bison Studies at South Dakota State University to study "sustainable strategies and techniques for conserving ecosystems, agriculture, and rural communities."

In 2022, when the institute was created, the news release stated it was possible Turner's remaining four Nebraska ranches, making up roughly 365,700 acres, could be transferred to the institute in the future. Turner also noted the prospect that the institute could qualify for a property tax exemption under both Nebraska and South Dakota laws, though the institute would not do so.

"I believe that local property taxes provide essential support for services on which our ranches and communities depend. The Institute will continue to pay its share of taxes to support the local communities," Turner said.

A 2023 article in the Flatwater Free Press highlighted Turner's land ownership in the state and pointed to conflicts over whether a non-profit could eventually opt to stop paying taxes on the ranch properties. In one county alone, Turner's annual property taxes were nearly $1 million. Other Nebraska ranchers also expressed frustration when so much land is sold to wealthy out-of-state buyers.

"It's a burden when people with outside money come in and buy the land for higher than what you could actually support by just running a cow-calf operation," one rancher said.

Alex Metcalf, a social scientist at the University of Montana, was the lead author earlier this year in a study looking at the concentration of landownership in the state. Increasingly, Montana is seeing its largest tracts of land being owned by a smaller percentage of people. Metcalf said there are social tradeoffs from having the wealthiest people owning such vast tracts of land.

"In some ways, you look at owners like Ted Turner who clearly invested in conservation outcomes, and people can look at that and say that is a good thing. Other people look at the consolidation of these really large properties that have limited public access as something they don't like," Metcalf said.

The group Solutions from the Land stated Wednesday that Turner was a longtime backer of the group. The Turner Foundation provided a grant in 2004 that brought together a group of farmers to examine the role of agriculture in energy. That led to the 25x'25 Renewable Energy Alliance, which then evolved to become Solutions from the Land. Turner continued to back the group over the years.

"Ted's steadfast and unwavering support for our farmer-rancher-forester-led grassroots movement was instrumental in the success we have achieved in shaping the adoption of pragmatic agricultural policies around the world," the group stated.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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