Dedicated volunteers have been key to preserving the historic Empire Ranch House and Headquarters. Please join us on Saturday, August 7, 2021.
To volunteer, please submit a Volunteer Opportunities Form, and we will contact you with more details!
You can now shop online for ERF Gift Shop items. Your purchase helps preserve and protect the Empire Ranch!
Items for sale include Empire Ranch Foundation denim shirts, t-shirts and books, souvenir coffee cups, Western jewelry and an ever changing offering of gifts for youngsters and seniors – and everyone else in between!
Click here to start shopping.
Despite the steady rain over 200 smiling visitors turned out to enjoy the Empire Ranch Foundation’s celebration of National Day of the Cowboy on Saturday, July 24, 2021 from 8 am to noon.
Click here to view photos of the 2021 celebration
The Empire Ranch Foundation docent tours, held on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month, at 11 am, will resume on Saturday, August 14th. August tours require a reservation by 5 pm the day prior to the tour. Click here to make a reservation.
You can now explore Historic Empire Ranch in an exciting new way. It’s called Agents of Discovery, the not-so-secret,
secret agency dedicated to learning and playing outdoors.
To get started:
1. Download the free Agents of Discovery app to your mobile device at the Apple App Store, Google Play or visit www.AgentsofDiscovery.com.
2. After downloading the app, click on the Missions button and select the ones you want to play.
3. Preload the missions and head out to the Historic Empire Ranch to start completing your challenges!
Read about Henry, Frank, and Charles Boice’s experiences as young men learning the cattle business in the June 2021 issue of the ERF Newsletter.
Click here to read the story.
In the 1920s Edward L. Vail, Walter Vail’s brother, began to write reminiscences of his experiences in early Arizona, many of which were published in local newspapers. The March 2021 issue of the ERF Newsletters features two of his stories.
A Mexican Baile is a humorous story of Empire Ranch cowboys attending a dance in the nearby mining town of Greaterville. Dan Murphy’s Ranch on the San Pedro River tells the tale of a trip made by Edward Vail and foreman Jerry Dillon to purchase bulls for the Empire Ranch.
Click here to read the stories.
Twenty years have passed since Representative Jim Kolbe introduced the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area Establishment Act of 1999 in the House of Representatives. The bill was unanimously passed in September 1999, be-coming law in December 2000, establishing the more than 42,000-acre Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (NCA).
Click here to read the article about all that has been accomplished.
Help us create our Western Heritage and Education Center! The Empire Ranch Foundation has begun a capital campaign to renovate the New Ranch House to serve as conference space for education programs, a place for environmental researchers to come stay for a day or two while they study the beautiful area of the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, and as office space where our board members, or in the future, a new administrative director can work.
Click here to find out how you can help.