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Category Archives: MLC Easements
Ivins Ranch Conservation Easement Completed!
Ivins Ranch, Dolores County Colorado
Today, the Ivins Family conveyed a conservation easement on their 6,750 acre ranch in central Dolores County. The completion of this and the Crescent Ranch conservation easement represent more than 11,000 acres of protected land in the Groundhog Glade area!
Posted in Conservation Updates, MLC Easements, MLC Updates
Tagged bargain purchase, conservation easement, Dolores County, GOCO
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Crescent Ranch Conservation Easement Closes!
Crescent Ranch, Dolores County Colorado
On Tuesday, Montezuma Land Conservancy completed a two year process to protect the 4,847 acre Crescent Ranch. The property is in two parcels: one in central Dolores County containing high elevation aspen forests and oakbrush woodlands and a second parcel located in western Montezuma County containing natural desert habitat and alluvial basins. “In the landowner’s words, “this project keeps the land all together just like Dad wanted from the beginning.” In the landowner’s words, “this project keeps the land all together just like Dad wanted from the beginning.” The project was made possible by grant funding from Great Outdoors Colorado, the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program and grants from the Packard Foundation and Gates Family Foundation.
Posted in Conservation Updates, MLC Easements
Tagged conservation easement, Dolores County, FRPP, GOCO, land protection, Montezuma County
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Dolores River Land Protection
One recent easement conserves 147 acres of ranch land, hay fields and pasture. The Property contains senior water rights and soils designated as Farmland of Statewide Importance by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It is bounded on two sides by the San Juan National Forest and occupies the Dolores River Valley floor, and upland forested slopes and includes ¾ mile of the Dolores River. The river supports approximately 20 acres of woodland riparian habitat within the property boundaries. The importance of riparian areas for southwestern migrating and nesting birds is well documented; they support a higher diversity of birds than all other western habitats combined. In addition to conserving agricultural lands and protecting important wildlife habitat the easement protects scenic views. The property is bisected by the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway, an All-American Road as designated by the National Scenic Byways Program of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. More than 75% of the Property is visible from this roadway.
Posted in Conservation Updates, MLC Easements, MLC Updates
Tagged Dolores River, irrigated land, NRCS, water rights
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RSL Ranch 2010 Conservation Easement Closes
Rick and Helen Lee on their property on Haycamp Mesa
The new RSL Ranch conservation easement embodies the rich qualities of the landscape in our area. It includes irrigated farmland, grazing land for cattle, and ponderosa forest for timber production. At the same time it includes important forest habitat for wildlife along with riparian habitat along Lost Canyon Creek and scenic views from an access road to the San Juan National Forest. Rick and Helen Lee, representing the current generation of the ownership RSL Ranch have partnered with Montezuma Land Conservancy, Great Outdoors Colorado and the Farm and Ranch Protection Program to conserve the core of this historic family ranch. The ranch has been in the family since 1874 and a portion of the property is registered as a Centennial farm. Rick Lee talked about how this family history led him to consider a conservation easement,
Posted in Conservation Updates, MLC Easements, MLC Updates
Tagged Centennial farm, irrigated land, NRCS, purchased easement
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RSL Ranch 2008
RSL Ranch, LLLP is the current incarnation of a 134 year old, seven generation in the works, ranching/farming tradition. The ranch was homesteaded in the Montezuma Valley in 1874 by H.H. Ritter, a Civil War veteran and the great-great grandfather of Richard Lee, the present managing general partner of RSL (Ritter/Schlegel/Lee) Ranch. RSL is a Colorado Centennial Farm as recognized by the Colorado Historical Society.