Gwen and Josh Hoy’s Flying W Ranch of Cedar Point is the recipient of the 2020 Kansas Leopold Conservation Award.

Given in honor of Aldo Leopold, the award honors those who inspire others with their dedication to the land and wildlife in their care.

The Hoys were presented with $10,000 and a crystal award during a ceremony at their ranch in Cedar Point.

Josh Hoy, a fifth-generation cowboy, and Gwen Rieck, a teacher, married in 1998 and expanded the cow-calf and grazing operations of the ranch with an agrotourism business.

The pair adopted an “instinctive migratory” grazing method for their livestock and control invasive plants on the land by patch burning.

An Audobon Bird Friendly Ranch label may soon appear on the Hoy’s beef to inform consumers their grazing practices promote grassland stewardship.

“The Hoy family epitomize the land ethic that Aldo Leopold wrote about,” said Dan Meyerhoff, Kansas Association of Conservation Districts executive director.