Ted Turnerʼs Legacy as a Landowner and Conservationist

Ted Turner, the media mogul who died on Wednesday at 87, was one of the country's largest private landowners, amassing roughly two million acres across the United States, and established himself as an unlikely pioneer of land conservation.
Mr. Turner bought his first bison in 1976 and his first ranch 11 years later in Montana. He remained an active buyer of land well into the 2020s. At the time of his death, he owned 13 ranches spread across six states, according to Turner Enterprises. At more than 500,000 acres, his Vermejo Park Ranch, in northern New Mexico extending into southern Colorado, is one of the two largest pieces of private contiguous land in the country.