INNOVATIVE IDEA:
Partner with ranchers to preserve open space.
The PROBLEM:
In the 1990’s, after the energy-industry recession which Colorado suffered in the 1980’s, several factors were contributing to an unprecedented rate of conversion of agriculture lands to residential development. Almost 700 acres of agriculture open space were disappearing every day.
- Colorado’s population was growing at a record pace, putting increasing pressure on ranchers to sell their lands for residential development.
- In just 20 years, the average age of Colorado ranchers had increased from 52 to 57 as the appeal of a more prosperous lifestyle lured ranch kids to the city and left no one in the next generation available to assume continued management of the family ranch.
- The number of active farmers and ranchers in Colorado had shrunk to less than 2% of the state’s total population. As the ranching industry shrunk, so too did the industry’s supporting infrastructure, which eroded the profitability of ranching.
This conversion of agriculture open space was seen most starkly in the most scenic mountain communities where many of Colorado’s new residents sought to relocate. And every new neighbor who moved into those fragile agriculture communities contributed to the slow death of the ag culture which attracted them there in the first place. Colorado was killing its “golden goose”.
The BIG IDEA:
In 1993, Reeves proposed to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) that they should form their own “land trust” to work with ranchers who wanted to place a conservation easement on their land to prohibit any future development, thereby lowering the land’s taxable value and facilitating their ability to transfer ownership of that ranch land to their next generation. Beyond “innovative”, the unheard of idea was deemed crazy by many within the traditional ranching community because, at that time, most ranchers viewed the idea of protecting open space as an anti-growth tool of liberal environmental activists, and no self-respecting rancher wanted anything to do with environmental activists.
But the idea made perfect sense to Reeves, who argued that “No one cares more about protecting natural open space than the very ranching families who depend on it for their livelihood.” Over the course of two years, Reeves worked with visionary leaders within the Cattlemen’s Association — ranchers like Jay Fetcher from the Elk River Valley near Steamboat Springs, Bill Fales from the Roaring Fork Valley near Carbondale, and Kirk Hanna who ranched near Fountain — to shepherd this “crazy” idea into reality.
Reeves suggested that if CCA had the vision to take this innovative step and create their own land trust, it could one day be the largest land trust in the state because of the trusted partnership which CCA had with the state’s ranching landowners, and other state cattlemen’s associations might follow their lead. In 1995, after two years of careful negotiation among members of the association, the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association created the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) — the first ever land preservation trust in the nation formed by a mainstream agriculture organization.
The RESULT:
After 30 years in existence, the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agriculture Land Trust has partnered with almost 350 ranching families to permanently preserve over 600,000 acres of ranchland open space across Colorado. And similar ranchland trusts have since been replicated in California, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming, collectively protecting over 2 million acres of ranchland across the western United States.
More preserved ranchland means more opportunity to continue multi-generational ranching legacies, stronger rural economies, more wildlife habitat, and more protected viewsheds for future generations to enjoy forever.
Sometimes, crazy IS the answer.
