A LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY LADIES
Spanning the generations, women have planted themselves here among the cactus and pine. They’ve forged unconventional paths west — hunting and harvesting stories worth remembering. Today, they are still heeding the call of their heritage, bravely shedding all that is frivolous as they head deeper into the backcountry. They pursue that which will outlive them, in faithful stewardship of the tender shoots of conservation.
This league of extraordinary women have been tested and tried in the high lonesome; blooming amidst the rugged terrain with tenacity and grace that has changed the landscape on which they reside. They are too many to name — those women who have led the way — but each month we aim to share their stories. These are Women of the West.
MALOU ANDERSON-RAMIREZ
MONTANA
In the heart of the Tom Miner Basin — where the wild and working lands of the Greater Yellowstone area meet — Malou Anderson- Ramirez, her husband Andres, and their two young daughters have made their home. This ranch has been in Malou’s family since her grandparents began ranching in the 1950s. They’ve raised both grass-fed beef and future generations on the fertile soil and under the snow-capped mountains of Montana.
“There is a lot of value placed on education in our family, which led me to boarding school back East as a young adult,” said Malou, who then went on to college in Colorado and Montana. She met her husband, Andres, while living in California, and the pair later returned to Montana. “We finally moved back to my family’s ranch in 2011. We are here now, raising our two young daughters, managing and maintaining a life together in this wild place.”
Malou grew up hunting with her
