Today we’re sharing an episode from our friends at the Land Investor Podcast featuring Justin Howe—President of Gates Family Ranches, which is a family-owned cattle, hospitality, and conservation operation spanning the Colorado–Wyoming border. Alongside his wife, Lissa, Justin has co-managed the A Bar A Guest Ranch since 2008, helping lead a working landscape that blends livestock production, recreation, and conservation. 

Justin is also a Western Landowners Alliance board member and advisor to our Ranch Managers Guild—a network built to support the people stewarding working lands every day. The Guild offers connection, practical tools, and professional development for managers of family ranches, cattle operations, and conservation properties alike. 

In this episode, hosts Matt and Ryan sit down with Justin for an in-depth conversation about modern ranch management in the American West. Drawing on decades of hands-on experience, Justin shares how today’s ranch leaders balance cattle operations, guest services, conservation goals, technology, and landowner priorities—all while keeping large, complex landscapes healthy and productive for the long haul. 

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More about Justin and Lissa Howe, ranch managers at A Bar A 

Justin is President of the Gates Family Ranches (GFR), a family-owned cattle, hospitality, and conservation ranch on the Colorado/Wyoming border. Along with his wife, Lissa, he has co-managed the A Bar A Guest Ranch since 2008. He is the second generation of his family in that role. The GFR have been owned by the Gates Family of Denver since the 1960s. 

Justin’s work focuses on protecting working lands, educating Ranch visitors and staff, supporting on-the-ground conservation projects, and building partnerships to enhance enduring business operations and sustainable natural resource management. 

Prior to returning to the Ranches, Justin worked in water education throughout the Colorado River Watershed on both sides of the US/Mexico border. He also developed water resources curriculum in Latin America with Project WET, the Mexican Institute of Water Technology, and UNESCO, among others. Justin holds a BA in anthropology and spent time living with the Shuar tribe in eastern Ecuador. He has an MBA from the University of Wyoming. 

The Gates Family Ranches were selected as 2018 Landowner of the Year by Wyoming Game and Fish and received the 2023 Environmental Stewardship Award from the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association. They were also featured in the 2024 documentary film Under the Wire, which shares the work the Ranches and its partners have undertaken to study and protect pronghorn migration corridors. 

Links from this episode

Learn more about the Ranch Managers Guild 

Check out the Land Investor Podcast 

Learn more about the A Bar A Ranch 

In 2018, the Ranch partnered with Michael Forsberg, a conservation photographer, Platte Basin Timelapse (PBT), the University of Wyoming, and the local Conservation District of Carbon County, WY, documenting the important wildlife migration corridors that exist within the Upper North Platte River watershed and on the Ranches. Under The Wire was produced by PBT and filmed entirely on the Ranch, capturing the movements of game–particularly pronghorn antelope–identifying key fence lines that were converted to be wildlife-friendly. Under The Wire was awarded Grand Prize and People’s Choice awards at the 2024 Wild and Working Lands Film Festival, presented by the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at University of Wyoming. 

Learn more about A Bar A’s conservation and stewardship here.