GREEN RIVER — A historic western Wyoming property has been conserved under a permanent conservation easement announced this week, said officials with the Green River Valley Land Trust.

Officials with Green River Exploration Drilling, an energy-services company, donated a conservation easement on 280 acres within the Hall Basin Unit property to the Green River Valley Land Trust.

The property lies northeast of Boulder in Sublette County adjacent to the Bureau of Land Management’s Scab Creek Wilderness Study Area. The energy company purchased it from the Vern Mrak family in August.

Land Trust officials said the gift means the property will remain available for wildlife and will provide scenic views forever for residents and visitors.

“We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with the Green River Exploration Drilling members,” Land Trust executive director Lara Ryan said in a media release.

The gift will ensure “that this beautiful property will continue to benefit our community forever.”

The donated easement includes a riparian shrubland along Spring Creek and a blend of mountain big sagebrush, lodgepole pine and other mixed forest communities. A grassy meadow in the lower elevations on the property is referred to as Hall Basin.

The site provides scenic views from Scab Creek County Road and from nearby public lands. The property includes a segment of the Lowline pack trail and links to the Scab Creek Trailhead and Campground facilities.

Mrak owned the property for 45 years. He said it has an interesting history.

He said sawmills once existed on the property near the creek, although not much logging was actually conducted.

Mrak said there were also rumors that the property was used as a site for illegal bootlegging operations, with stills located along the west part of Soda Lake and at one time near the creek. Old oak barrels were once discovered on the property, he said.

Green River Exploration Drilling President and CEO DeWitt Morris said the gift demonstrates the company’s “genuine commitment” to preservation, environmental stewardship and conservation principles.

The Green River Valley Land Trust is a private, nonprofit organization that works with Wyoming landowners to conserve the state’s natural and agricultural resources.

Since 2000, the Land Trust has worked with more than 45 families to conserve nearly 30,000 acres of working ranchland, wildlife habitat and open spaces in Sublette County.

Contact Jeff Gearino at gearino@tribcsp.com or 307-875-5359.