A devastating landscape as the March 6 wildfire engulfs pastures on the Gardiner Angus Ranch near Ashland, Kan. Photo courtesy: Mark Gardiner, Gardiner Angus Ranch.
Smoke billows for miles and miles as the Plains Wildfire gained steam. Photo courtesy: Mark Gardiner, Gardiner Angus Ranch.
Wind-whipped flames and dry conditions fueled the wildfire’s pace across four states on March 6. Photo courtesy: Mark Gardiner, Gardiner Angus Ranch.
An aerial photograph as smoke still towered around the Gardiner Angus Ranch near Ashland, Kan. Photo Credit: Tim Tyree, Tyree Ag, Courtesy Gardiner Angus Ranch.
Only dust is left in a paddock where Mark and Eva Gardiner of Gardiner Angus Ranch near Ashland, Kan., keep their horses. The pair was able to save their horses and their barn, but lost their home to the March 6 wildfires.
New barbed wire is measured out and new fence posts laid in preparation for rebuilding some of the more than 250 estimated miles of fence lost on Gardiner’s property.
Clark County, Kansas, ranchers lost an estimated $41 million of fence to the wildfires. It costs about $10,000 per mile to put up a mile of five-strand barbed wire fence.
Mark Gardiner of Gardiner Angus Ranch near Ashland, Kan., called much of the soil on his land “blow sand.” It will be years of babying the blow-sand pastures before they can reestablish stocking rates. The tighter soils will come back faster, but it will still be July at the earliest and more likely August or September before they can turn cattle out on the pastures again.
Dust blows past a pile of fence posts on the Dunne Ranch south of Ashland, Kan.
A convoy of trucks from Iowa pulls through Ashland, Kan., on its way to deliver hay to ranchers devastated by the wildfires.
A reflection of a community united, Jenny (Giles) Betschart of Giles Ranch at Bucklin, Kan., sports her “#AshlandStrong” t-shirt. Jenny and her sisters Katie Shaw and Molly Beckford all lost their homes to the March 6 wildfires, and an estimated 65% of their cattle.
Shanell Shoop of Inola, Okla., traveled to Kansas to replace fencing destroyed by the March 6 wildfires. Shoop’s father, Roy, leads prayer at the Cowboy Gathering Church in Inola.
Young volunteers Tyson Mohr and McKenzie Kempf of Iowa rode along to help unload fencing supplies at the Feed and Seed in Ashland, Kan.
Volunteers help unload fencing supplies from an Illinois truck at the Feed and Seed in Ashland, Kan.
During unthinkable loss and tragedy, rural America’s resilient spirit outshines the struggle. The outpouring of support from neighbors near and far will be the inspiration for weeks and months to come. Photo courtesy: Mark Gardiner, Gardiner Angus Ranch.