Park County Open Lands

Where We Work

A Changing Landscape

Park County encompasses spectacular landscapes ranging from mountain wilderness to high desert sagebrush steppe with the Shoshone, Clarks Fork, and Greybull Rivers providing for blue ribbon fisheries, agriculture, and outdoor recreation. Ranches and farmlands at lower elevations produce food and fiber, a critical piece of our rural economy. These working lands also provide important habitat for this region’s iconic wildlife that brings visitors from around the world to neighboring Yellowstone National Park. Park County’s open space provides resilient landscapes and livelihoods that are central to the region’s local heritage.

2022: Commencement Program Year
In Process: Protected Acres
Primary Wildlife: Elk, Moose, Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer
Primary Use: Working Lands, Wildlife Habitat

Park County Open Lands

Advisory Council

Mark Bruscino

Mark Bruscino

Mark is a retired 32-year employee of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Mark supervised the Department’s Large Carnivore Program which included oversite of research and management of black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, and gray wolves. Mark has extensive experience working with large carnivore-human conflicts, population monitoring, policy development, and human dimensions in wildlife conservation. He’s a past member of an Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team and the Northern Rockies Wolf Working Group. In 2013, Mark was awarded the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Lifetime Achievement Award for his long-term contributions on behalf of wildlife conservation. Through his decades of work with wildlife in the Yellowstone region, Mark believes that the most urgent action needed in wildlife conservation and to maintain our rural lifestyle is to protect open space on private agricultural lands. Mark and his wife Leah currently live in Powell, WY.
Rebekah Burns

Rebekah Burns

Rebekah Burns is the Executive Director of Powell Economic Partnership/ Powell Chamber/ Powell Visitor Center. She supports and grows our existing businesses. In addition, PEP develops industries and recruits businesses that match the people and culture of the Powell Valley. Rebekah advocates for Powell’s businesses, citizens, and institutions. She serves as Treasurer for the Park County Museum Board. Rebekah is a graduate of PCLI Class XII and served on the steering committee for XIII. She has a Film Production degree from Towson University. For over 15 years, she has worked in video production and content creation creating stories and crafting messages. As Multimedia Marketing Manager at the first international video production crewing agency, Rebekah oversaw external communications including an industry blog, social media, website development, and video podcast channels. As a Production Manager, she oversaw approximately 1,500 accounts. Her duties included managing and scheduling hundreds of on-location shoots a year for corporations, broadcast, cable, production companies, advertising agencies, PR firms, government, and non-profits agencies. Rebekah also has a strong customer service background. She worked as a Customer Service Representative for a major credit card company acquired by Bank of America and as a Sales Rep. and Assistant Buyer for an outdoor recreation retailer. Currently, Rebekah loves exploring the wilds of Wyoming with her sons and husband.
Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher

Mark is a geologist living in Cody. He grew up in Cincinnati collecting fossils and received his BS and MS in Geology from the University of Cincinnati. Mark worked for 34 years for Marathon Oil in the oil and gas exploration and development business as a geologist and manager. Most of that time was in the Rockies and Gulf Coast with an emphasis on Wyoming and the Bighorn Basin. Mark transferred eight times, but always returned to Cody where he has lived four times. Since retiring from the oil industry, he has built a website (Geowyo.com) with two other geologists that details over 80 special geology sites in Wyoming. In the last few years, he has led field trips and given talks for the Forest Service, Nature Conservancy, Montana Tech, Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and local rock clubs. Mark has been teaching dance in Cody and Powell for the past fifteen years. If you play a song, he probably knows a dance you can do to it. When not dancing or looking at rocks, Mark loves hiking and exploring in the Bighorn Basin and surrounding mountains with his wife, Connie.
Garrett Growney

Garrett Growney

Garrett is Vice President of Commercial Lending with Pinnacle Bank in Cody. He has been in Cody for 20 years working to finance businesses and landowners in the local area. Garrett grew up in Northern Montana and has a BA in Political Science from Brown University and an MBA from Arizona State University. He and his family enjoy as much of the Wyoming outdoors as possible. Garrett is an avid fly fisherman, backpacker, downhill skier, and boater. He cares deeply about maintaining the quality of life we enjoy in Park County.
Buzzy Hassrick

Buzzy Hassrick

Since 1976, Buzzy has been exploring the wonders of northwest Wyoming on horseback and foot, from the McCullough Peaks to the Absaroka and Beartooth ranges, developing a deep appreciation for that landscape. From those experiences has emerged a commitment to protect lands with aesthetic and wildlife values as well as the culture of farming and ranching. When she’s not hiking or cross-country skiing, she works as the part-time copy editor of the Cody Enterprise and writes occasional stories for the paper. Buzzy is also a sailor, community activist, and volunteer.
Allen Hogg

Allen Hogg

Allen Hogg was born and raised on the Hogg Ranch in Meeteetse, Wyoming. He is a third-generation rancher on a 100+ year family ranch 12 miles SW of Meeteetse on the Greybull River. He has been married to Kristine for 42 years, and together they have 3 grown boys, Patrick, Tighe, and Wesley. He graduated from Meeteetse High School and NWC in Powell. He has served on many boards around the county including Park County Fair Board and Park County Predator Board, and is currently a member of Friends of the Black Footed Ferret and Sage Grouse Advisory Board. Allen and Kristine placed an easement on their property in 2019, and Allen believes that conservation is very important for the land use of Park County and Wyoming.
Jarren Kuipers

Jarren Kuipers

Jarren is the founder of Land Steward Services, which provides support services for land trusts and their landowner partners across the West. He has 20 years of experience in private lands conservation working for and with land trusts. Thirteen of those years have been in Park County.

Prior to that, he grew up on a medium-sized family farm in eastern South Dakota that focused on dry land crops and livestock. Jarren however, was too easily distracted by hunting, fishing, and trapping; an affliction that eventually led him to a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from South Dakota State University and an MS from the University of Wyoming in Zoology.

He and his wife Tara enjoy exploring the wilds of Park County by foot, pedal, and paddle.
James Seckman

James Seckman

James moved to Wyoming from Michigan in 1979. He served in the military as a military policeman. He later graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1992. James has been in the practice of public accounting for the past 30 years, providing tax and auditing services. He spends all of his spare time at his cabin in the Bighorn Mountains and loves the wide open spaces and recreation opportunities the Bighorn Basin provides.
Abby Scott

Abby Scott

Abby is the Migration Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming. She began her work at TNC as the Northwest Wyoming Program Director, where she directed all aspects of land and water conservation for the Conservancy in the Cody region. Abby holds a B.S. in Economics and Environment and Natural Resources and an M.S. in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wyoming. Her M.S. research focused on the optimal placement of conservation easement purchases for conserving wildlife migration corridors. Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy, Abby worked for the UW School of Energy Resources, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, and as a Mickelson Fellow for Western Governors Association, where she worked on Governor Matt Mead’s species conservation initiative. Abby was raised in Cody and is passionate about conserving this special landscape and community. She now enjoys raising her two sons amid all the Cody community has to offer.
Kelly Spiering

Kelly Spiering

Kelly and her two sons operate Spiering Farms. This is a 600-acre farm that specializes in growing and conditioning native plants including grasses, forbs, and flowers. They also produce seed for commodity crops. Spiering Farms was started in 1950 and Kelly joined the operation in 1976. Kelly has served on numerous boards with an acute interest in maintaining agriculture and businesses in Park County and keeping them profitable.
Anne Young

Anne Young

Anne has enjoyed living and raising children in Park County for fifty-two all too short years; ranching, hiking, and taking adventurous pack trips with her husband, Jim Nielson. As a long-time board member of the Wyoming Nature Conservancy and now a member of their Sage Council, Anne has remained active in conservation work, especially with the Heart Mountain Ranch Preserve and the Canal Park within the City of Cody. She believes it is vital to keep natural areas and open space within cities and throughout rural landscapes. Anne is committed to conserving fertile agricultural lands, viewscapes, and critical habitat for wildlife.