In 2021, Ted Turner handed nearly 80,000 acres of prairie in Nebraska and South Dakota to the Turner Institute of Ecoagriculture, turning McGinley Ranch into a vast testing ground for conservation and sustainable land management. The 79,292-acre property lies in the Northern Sandhills, where rolling dunes, native grasslands, wetlands and shallow lakes form one of North America’s most distinctive prairie landscapes. Today, about 4,000 American plains bison roam the ranch, helping managers study how native grazing can influence vegetation, soils and biodiversity. More than 60 lakes and ponds, along with streams and wet meadows, provide habitat for a wide range of wildlife while sitting above the Ogallala Aquifer. Rather than simply preserving the land, the Turner Institute uses McGinley as a living laboratory, bringing researchers and land managers together to examine soil health, water systems, wildlife, grazing and sustainable food production on a landscape scale.
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