W.A. Ranches receives approval for long range development plan
W.A. Ranches, a working ranch plot of 19,000 acres near Cochrane, AB, along with 1,000 head of cattle, was gifted to the University of Calgary in 2018.
The gift was given by Jack Anderson and his daughter Wynne Chisholm who are ranchers and philanthropists in the Calgary region. Through their knowledge of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, the family recognized the need for an education ranch when discussing succession planning. Worth $44 million, it’s the largest such gift given to a veterinary school in North America.
The gift has enormous potential and a plan was necessary to ensure effective development of the land for teaching, research and community use. The W.A. Ranch’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) was approved by the University of Calgary Board of Governors in June and by the Government of Alberta in fall. It is a potential land use plan if the university were to build at a later time and focuses o