The ranching career of John Lee and Ellen Njos has been defined by innovation and their lifelong willingness to test boundaries. They admit their ranch’s survival often depended on it. 

Since purchasing Coyote Creek Ranch in 1973, the Njoses’ willingness to adapt, learn, and rethink conventional practices has made their landscape more economically and environmentally sustainable. 

John Lee defies the American West’s iconic, rugged individualist rancher image with his willingness to organize, educate, and collaborate. His ability to share his life’s experiences has advanced adoption of conservation practices far and wide.

John Lee credits influential mentors with encouraging him to adopt non-traditional ranching methods. After joining his district soil conservation board in 1986, the district sent him to a holistic grazing course taught by Allan Savory. That investment in him turned out to be transformational. 

John Lee learned how fencing and grazing practices can be used to grow better grass and improve soil’s infiltration of water. He not only began installing new practices at home, but he encouraged other ranchers to do the same. These relationships led to the creation of the North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition. 

An early innovation was installing cross-fencing despite considerable social pressure. The results validated the risk: the land responded dramatically, showing that thoughtful experimentation could unlock ecological potential and improve overall productivity. That experience laid the foundation for a pattern of innovation in land and livestock management.

As his understanding of holistic management deepened, he undertook water development projects including buried pipelines, solar wells, and strategically placed dams. This reduced grazing pressure on riparian areas, enhanced livestock distribution, improved water quality, and reestablished beavers to their portion of Coyote Creek. All of this was accomplished in a brittle environment that annually receives just 10 inches of rain.

John Lee has kept 35 years of detailed rain records for the two separate parcels that make up the 4,800-acre Coyote Creek Ranch in Bowman County. Today, he and Ellen ranch with their daughter Angie and her husband Luke Rodakowski. Their son Chad ranches nearby with a similar conservation ethic.

Decades ago, John Lee planted tall wheatgrass strips across his fields to combat soil erosion from wind. Recently, he embraced bale grazing as a regenerative soil building technique to enrich nutrient-poor areas with organic matter and carbon, while reducing machinery use, fuel consumption and emissions. To restore degraded cropland, cover crops are grown to build soil structure, enhance microbial function, and prevent erosion. A diverse cover crop mix also provides forage for cattle and wildlife to graze. 

The Njoses have worked with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Ducks Unlimited, North Dakota Game & Fish, and Audubon to host bird inventories and migration research, and support grassland bird capture and tagging. They are restoring 270 acres of diverse native grasses and forbs through Audubon’s Conservation Forage Program. Their enrollment in Audubon’s third party verified “Bird Friendly Beef” program is a result of bird-friendly grazing practices that help stabilize grassland bird populations. 

John Lee played a key role in forming a landowner working group focused on improving sage grouse management. His leadership and practical expertise helped shape management approaches that are effective for conservation and feasible for landowners to implement. 

Through the years, John Lee’s influence grew as he engaged in regional and national conservation efforts, but to describe him as a “pillar of the community” understates the depth of his influence. He has long embodied a servant-leader ethic, rooted in mentorship, open communications, and a steadfast belief in learning alongside others. These qualities have earned him widespread respect across North Dakota and beyond.