Weber Canyon Conservation Easement

Montezuma Land Conservancy (MLC) recently partnered with three landowners to conserve 1,000+ acres of ranch land in Weber Canyon. This project provides a keystone for strategic, landscape scale conservation in the Mancos Valley.

The project includes the full range of conservation values that MLC was founded to protect; the parcels have significant agricultural values including prime soils and almost 6 cubic feet per second of high priority irrigation water out of Weber Creek. The parcels currently produce irrigated hay and provide rangeland for grazing.

The conservation easement protects extensive natural habitat including over 1,000 acres of diverse and biologically significant habitat that link two Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Study Areas, which are in turn contiguous with Mesa Verde National Park and the Ute Mountain Ute’s Tribal Park. The parcels contain nearly 3.25 miles of riparian habitat along Weber and East Canyon creeks. The bottom lands of these two significant canyons contain willow and cottonwood riparian areas, piñon juniper woodlands, mixed mountain shrub, pockets of ponderosa pine, native grasses and shale outcrops creating a multitude of habitats capable of supporting a high level of biodiversity.  Conserving these habitats supports regional populations of wildlife which local residents and visitors alike enjoy watching and hunting.

The land remains private property and physical access is by permission only. However, the conservation easement protects magnificent scenic vistas visible to the public from a county road and from nearby public land.

When asked about their reasons for making this commitment to conservation, one of the landowners said, “These ranches in Weber Canyon are contiguous to two BLM Wilderness Study Areas, and other public lands. Their preservation is essential to the natural integrity of the micro-ecosystem.  Agricultural production began with the Anasazi and was re-established by the homesteaders in the 1800′s. As owners, we intend to honor the land and maintain the ranching tradition of the property in perpetuity by granting this conservation easement.”

This project was made possible by support from the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Habitat Protection Partnership, Central Utah Project Completion Act funds and a private foundation.

This project also builds upon the nine miles of riparian habitat and over 2,400 acres in the Mancos Valley already protected by conservation easements held by MLC.

MLC Executive Director Juniper Katz sums up the project, “The size and remote location of this project make this conservation easement very significant – the ability for ranching to continue in Weber Canyon while protecting key habitat for future generations is a legacy we are proud to be a part of — and we’re not done yet – MLC is in discussions with two other landowners to knit together additional private lands in this important agricultural and natural corridor of southwestern Colorado.”

Join Montezuma Land Conservancy for the Wild & Scenic Film Festival “On Tour” at the Dolores Community Center January 27^th, 2012 at 6pm.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is a collection of films from the annual festival held in Nevada City, CA which is now is now its 9^th year! The Wild& Scenic Film Festival was started by the watershed advocacy group, the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) in 2003. The festival’s namesake is in celebration of SYRCL’s landmark victory to receive “Wild & Scenic” status for 39 miles of the South Yuba River in 1999. The 3 day event features over 100 award-winning films.

One year after the inaugural festival in 2003, non-profits around the nation started asking SYRCL to bring the festival to their local communities.  In response, SYRCL developed the Wild & Scenic Films Festival “On Tour” allowing local groups to apply to host a film festival in their own backyards.  Along with providing amazing films, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival “On Tour” is designed to be an educational tool to inform communities about the host group and serve as a membership drive.  Montezuma Land Conservancy is proud to be one of those groups, bringing a selection of world-class films to our southwestern corner of Colorado.

Featured at the festival in Dolores will be “The Greatest Migration”, this 20 minute film explores the migration of the Snake River salmon. The Snake River salmon swim more than 900 miles inland and climb almost 7,000 feet to reach their spawning grounds. These iconic fish travel farther and higher than any other salmon on Earth, but a gauntlet of dams blocks their great migration and is pushing these high-altitude salmon to extinction.  Also featured is “Bag It”, a fascinating film investigating the world of plastic. In this touching and often flat-out-funny film, we follow “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he embarks on a global tour to unravel the complexities of our plastic world. What starts as a film about plastic bags evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our own bodies. We see how our crazy-for-plastic world has finally caught up to us and what we can do about it. Today. Right now. Many awards, including Best of Festival, Blue Ocean FF, Audience Choice, Telluride Mountainfilm.  Join us for these and many more world-class films, including the debut of MLC’s very on film showcasing our regions’ rural and ranching heritage and the importance of conserving open space.

Event Details: January 27^th, 2012: Doors open at 6:00pm and shows start at 6:30pm

Dolores Community Center, 400 Riverside, Dolores, CO

Ticket Prices:

New membership plus admission $40. As a member you will receive our newsletter, be eligible for benefits at MLC events, and enjoy being a part of making a difference in our community.

Current members admission $10

Kids 12 & under $5

General admission without joining MLC $12

For more information contact Amber, amber@montezumaland.org, 565-1664

Glen Humiston stands on the Humiston family farm on the south side of Mancos. Humiston heirs and the Montezuma Land Conservancy recently worked together to secure a conservation easement on the property.

On May 26^th an agriculturally productive farm in the Mancos Valley was protected forever by the Humiston Family, in partnership with Montezuma Land Conservancy.  With its gambrel barn and green fields framed by the peaks of the Southern San Juan Mountains, this scenic property embodies the slogan, “Where the West Still Lives,” which appears on a welcome sign as travelers enter the Mancos Valley.

The approximately 120-acre farm sits on the south side of the town of Mancos and is managed as an irrigated hay operation by family.  The conservation of this iconic farm ensures the essence of Mancos’ rural heritage will never be lost to sprawl and development.  The Property contains soils designated as Prime Farmland by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and a portion of the senior No. 2 water right will remain with the property for agricultural use.

In speaking about his reasons for protecting the property, easement grantor Glen Humiston said,

“This conservation easement is a way to keep the land together as a single family farm, and to keep it from growing houses.”

The need to protect the family parcel became urgent after the recent passing of Lois Humiston, who owned the property, along with her husband Everett, since the 1950’s.  All four of Lois Humiston’s heirs came together and agreed the farm should be conserved, and a conservation easement was the tool to equitably achieve this goal. Funds from Great Outdoors Colorado and the NRCS Farm and Ranchland Protection program made the easement possible.

“Montezuma Land Conservancy works to protect properties like the Humiston farm that possess iconic views and heritage qualities that define our landscape and community in southwestern Colorado,” commented Juniper Katz of the Conservancy, “These types of irrigated properties close to town are increasingly threatened by growth and development.”

Since 1998, Montezuma Land Conservancy has partnered with local landowners to complete 66 conservation easements that protect 30,825 acres in Montezuma and Dolores counties.  Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements that landowners use to protect important agricultural land, wildlife habitat, and scenic open space by limiting subdivision and residential development.  Lands remain in private ownership and management, and public access is not required.  Financial benefits can include reduction in state, federal, and estate taxes and continued agricultural property tax status. In certain cases, landowners may receive cash for protecting their land.  For more information, call MLC at 565-1664.

I cannot…bring myself to even consider breaking up and/or selling what I view as a family legacy that could never be replaced. Sometimes certain things transcend monetary issues or what might seem the most logical course at a given point in time.

Hopefully, the easement will enable the flexibility of economics to help future generations maintain the land in its historic use and form. It will be a tool to possibly eliminate many temptations and pitfalls that can run concurrently with land ownership and life.

It is our intention to encourage and enable good stewardship and preservation of an increasingly rare legacy with both public and private aspects for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.

Rick Lee

Learn more about RSL Ranch

“Keeping it in the family: How conservation easements can benefit your family and your land”

Please join MLC and two independent financial advisors to learn how conservation easements can help families hang onto their land and realize tax benefits.  The seminar will be held at the Lewis-Arriola Community Center at 21176 County Road S, just west of Hwy 491.

Topics to be covered at the seminar include:

• Protecting our Rural Way of Life
• Options and Flexibility of Agricultural Conservation Easements
• Cash From the State Tax Credit for Your Easement
• Tax issues of Conservation Easements
• Living and Farming with a Conservation Easement on Your Place

Following the seminar at 6 PM, Montezuma Land Conservancy will host its 4th Annual Landowner Dinner. You’re invited to join your friends and neighbors who’ve been through the easements process for an evening of good food and company. The cost for dinner is $10.00. To RSVP, or for more information, please call (970)565-1664, or e-mail MLC at info@montezumaland.org

Congress extends the enhanced easement incentive! This is great news for landowners in Montezuma and Dolores counties — check out the details of H.R. 4853 or contact MLC at 970. 565.1664 for more information.

The incentive, which now applies to donations in 2010 and 2011:

• Raises the income tax deduction a landowner can take for donating a conservation easement from 30% of their income in any year to 50%;
• Allows farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their income; and
• Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16 years.

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! ““It is hard to run a ranch on what we make off the ranch,” Ivins says. “The conservation easement is a really nice way to keep the ranch running as it is and not have to sell off pieces for development.” “It is hard to run a ranch on what we make off the ranch,” Ivins says. “The conservation easement is a really nice way to keep the ranch running as it is and not have to sell off pieces for development.”

“We believe in conservation. There are deer and elk, bear and turkeys, and mountain lions up there. We want to keep it as it is and it is the best way in the world to raise children.”

Many partners helped make this project possible, including Great Outdoors Colorado, the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program and the Packard Foundation. The property contains stellar habitat for a variety of wide ranging mammals as well as 3/4 of a mile of Bear Creek. Director of Conservation Initiatives, Nina Williams had this to say about the project, “Working with DeAnn Ivins and the rest of the Ivins Family has been a pleasure and an honor — protection of this Ranch ensures the continued beauty and productivity of this landscape.”

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.

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.

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,

I cannot … bring myself to even consider breaking up and/or selling what I view as a family legacy that could never be replaced. Sometimes certain things transcend monetary issues or what might seem the most logical course at a given point in time. Hopefully, the easement will enable the flexibility of economics to help future generations maintain the land in its historic use and form. It will be a tool to possibly eliminate many temptations and pitfalls that can run concurrently with land ownership and life. It is our intention to encourage and enable good stewardship and preservation of an increasingly rare legacy with both public and private aspects for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.

This new easement conserves 799 acres on Haycamp Mesa which are adjacent to an existing easement on 880 acres granted by RSL Ranch in 2008, together with a parcel of approximately 120 acres of irrigated farmland in the Montezuma Valley.  The Haycmp Mesa portion is bounded to the north and northeast by the San Juan National Forest.  It occupies the Lost Canyon Creek floor, upland forested slopes, and side drainages.  One half mile of Lost Canyon Creek flows through the Property supporting important riparian communities.  The majority of the property is a ponderosa pine/Gambel oak woodland, which is also a high priority habitat type.

The centennial farm portion of this easement is a productive agricultural property due to its deep loam soils combined with high priority irrigation rights.  The property produces high quality hay and provides pastureland for livestock grazing.