Our Vision
WLA’s Women in Ranching program envisions a culture of western ranching that acknowledges and celebrates the diversity of our land stewards.
At this critical juncture, the face of rural leadership is changing. Women have always played a vital role in the care and stewardship of our lands, but in our traditional ranching communities, women’s work has historically been hidden work.
Today, there are more women inheriting, acquiring, managing, studying, and in other ways stepping up and out as aspiring leaders in agriculture. WinR is expanding its reach with a core belief that investing in women means investing in strong rural communities, improved land stewardship and increased collaborative and creative approaches in the West.
Join us on this incredible journey, to connect and support, educate and inspire, a growing network of resilient social capital.
Next Circle
PT Ranch
Ione, CA
May 9-12, 2022
Generous ranch owners offer their ranch locations free of charge to our program and help to organize catering services, thereby keeping Circle membership fees low for participants. Women in Ranching provides a team of facilitators who work with the landowners and ranch staff to bring a cohort (we call them circles) of about 20 women together. Each circle comes together for a one-year, two-gathering course, with ample opportunities for peer to peer learning, leadership building and intentional community development. We emphasize permission, emergence and acceptance.
Women in Ranching Circles catalyze action: books have been written, partnerships have formed, business concepts have become reality, monthly rural women’s groups have taken shape and these women have begun to say YES to their dreams. These gatherings create meaningful progress in ranching through building an intricate, resilient network of dynamic social capital that is centered in empowering and supporting women’s work on the land. Our facilitators hold space for these women to explore roadblocks and find strength in their unique voice.
The first Women in Ranching Circle was hosted in 2016 by Paicines Ranch, in California. Two years and several convenings later, WinR found a permanent home with the Western Landowners Alliance, a West-wide organization advancing policies and practices that sustain working lands, connected landscapes and native species.
Today, we are a growing collaborative of women who convene on host ranches to learn, play and find a renewed awareness of inner abundance and resiliency. These gatherings activate women to connect and share with each other and strengthen our collective voice for the betterment of our rural communities.
Women in Ranching (WinR) emerged in direct response to an expressed need: working-lands women throughout the West were seeking ways to connect with one another, to promote leadership and inspire creative solutions for how best to support a growing resource of female leaders.
What our participants say




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The WinR Story
Thanks to the wonderful team at Seacat Creative for helping us put together Women in Ranching's story as a beautiful PDF. Download and share!
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