None The Nature Conservancy in Colorado Press Releases Search All Press Releases Christine Broda-Bahm Phone: (720) 974-7002 Cell: (303) 910-5427 E-mail: cbrodabahm@tnc.org

Conservation Lands Along Yampa Grow

The Nature Conservancy Closes on Additional 486 Acres of Wolf Mountain Ranch

Steamboat Springs, CO—November 9, 2005—A voluntary land conservation agreement funded by a Great Outdoors Colorado Lottery grant, Routt County Purchase of Development Rights Program and The Nature Conservancy will protect an additional 486 acres in the Yampa Valley, The Nature Conservancy announced today.

Today’s easement, the second on the Wolf Mountain Ranch, brings the total number of acres
protected along the Yampa River near Hayden to 4767, and the total length of river protected through these lands to nearly 10 miles.

“This is a day for great celebration,” said Charles Bedford, state director of The Nature Conservancy of Colorado.  “Along with our partners and the Yampa Valley community, we are one step closer to achieving a long-term conservation vision for this magnificent landscape. Through cooperative efforts we are ensuring that future generations of Coloradoan’s will be able to enjoy the natural legacy of the Valley.

The Conservancy’s Carpenter Ranch anchors the Conservancy’s conservation efforts in the Yampa Valley.  The majority of the lands surrounding the ranch are under conservation easements now, providing one of the best opportunities to conserve this biologically rich and relatively unbroken landscape.

Allan White, chair of the Routt County Purchase of Development Rights Program Citizen’s Advisory Board expressed his pleasure that these important riparian lands and majestic views would preserved.  “We are delighted to have been able to make this local contribution which facilitated the leveraging of other funds and allowed for the completion of this project.”

The land is home to bald eagles and provides a staging area of statewide significance for hundreds of Sandhill cranes each spring and fall. The sage and oak covered hills rolling away from the river support a portion of the only remaining population of Columbian sharp-tailed grouse in Colorado, as well as wintering habitat for the second largest elk herd in the state. The riverside areas that have just been conserved also support river otters, an animal which disappeared from the Yampa earlier in the last century, but were reintroduced in the 1970s and are making a comeback.

“Given the development pressures and growth in this part of Colorado, it is important for all of us to protect and conserve the Yampa Valley. “GOCO’s Lottery grants and Routt County’s Purchase of Development Rights Program have been critical in carrying out this responsibility,” said Geoff Blakeslee, the Conservancy’s Yampa River Project Director, adding, “Through strategic conservation efforts with interested landowners we are able to maintain the balance of ranching and wildlife habitat that make the Yampa Valley such a great place.”

Projects like these characterize the Conservancy’s approach to conservation.

“We use conservation easements because they are a cost-effective and highly efficient conservation tool. They protect critical wildlife habitat, keep good stewards on the land and prevent development of Colorado’s scenic landscapes,” said Bedford.

Fragmentation of the rural landscape for residential development together with soaring land values, constitute the greatest challenges facing wildlife and agriculture in the Yampa Valley.  Development of these lands would have resulted in the loss of quality habitat for a number of plant and animal species including over 90 bird species.

Hi-resolution images of the Wolf Mountain Ranch are available. Please phone Chris at (720) 974-7002.