Theodore Roosevelt coined the term “crowded hour” about his moments of battle in the Spanish-American War. When I think of Ted Turner’s life, the bigger term “crowded life” comes to mind. His impact on how we communicate and take our news today all starts with his founding of CNN. And who hasn’t pulled up an old film on Turner Classic Movies as late-night comfort food? Speaking of comfort food, he almost single handedly reintroduced the bison at scale to the West and bison meat to the world through his Ted’s Montana Grill restaurants. But these episodes in a crowded life are not Ted’s most consequential impact. His true lasting impact will have been on the larger natural world.
When the history of conservation in America is written, there ought to be a chapter dedicated to Ted Turner and how he alone, in essence, created the concept of conservation ranching, using large private landscapes primarily for wildlife habitat and conservation purposes. For a long time, he was America’s largest landowner, investing in restoration and habitat improvements. His properties, the Flying D Ranch in Montana, Vermejo in New Mexico, Avalon in north Florida, and a dozen others, serve as the best of the last best places. Incredible locations where bison, grizzly bear, wolves, bobwhite quail, gopher tortoises, Rio Grande cutthroats, and black-footed ferrets thrived.
Initially, this style of ranching didn’t make him popular with the locals, but over the years, they almost always warmed to him. Today, many landowners seek to emulate, replicate, re-create the model of Ted Turner, stewarding tens of millions of acres of America’s lands. But there can only be one “first,” and that is Ted Turner, the conservation visionary.
Finally, despite his brash and blunt-speaking reputation, Ted was also notoriously polite and considerate to friends and guests alike. I got to witness this firsthand on dozens of occasions during bird hunts, meals, conservation events, and get-togethers with family and friends.
The last time I saw Ted was almost two years ago, when he was in Yellowstone National Park with his now large immediate family, one of many summer pilgrimages the Turner family would make to treasured spots around the world. As a family friend, I was honored to be invited along for the trip and provide a fireside chat on private land conservation one evening. Battling a disease, he was having trouble speaking, but could take in all that was going on around him. That first day, as we were boarding a vessel for a tour of Yellowstone Lake, Ted was seated in the front. Without words available to him, he made a point of stopping me, taking my hand, and giving it a hard squeeze of recognition. A great lasting memory and a true southern gentleman, lion of conservation, and source of inspiration until the very end.
