Red Mountain Ranch deal finalized

The Larimer County Open Lands Program and The Nature Conservancy took the final step to acquire the Red Mountain Ranch, which straddles the Colorado-Wyoming border, on Dec. 30.

The 13,500 acres of the ranch that lie in Colorado were purchased with $7.8 million in lottery funds from Great Outdoors Colorado and $1.8 million from Larimer County's Help Preserve Open Spaces sales tax fund. In addition, the Nature Conservancy purchased over 1,500 acres that lie in Wyoming.

The $1.8 million of county open space revenue, funded by a quarter percent sales tax, represents about half of what the county receives annually. Purchasing the Red Mountain Ranch was the county's top priority this past year.

The $7.8 million is part of an $11.6 million Legacy grant the GOCO Board awarded to the project on Dec. 1.

Currently, the county's plans for the land include trading about 8,500 acres with a conservation easement for equally valued conservation easements on an adjacent ranch. This will create a larger land protection area that will continue to be privately owned. Larimer County will retain the northern portion of Red Mountain Ranch, known as the Big Hole, for wildlife protection and recreational use.

Eventually 6 to 10 miles of trail will be developed in the area, creating an estimated 30-mile network when connected to trails at Fort Collins' adjacent Soapstone Ranch. The trail will open an area that has previously been inaccessible to the public.

"This is a tremendous conservation opportunity, and I am pleased that the city and the county could come to the table to make this happen," said Craig Harrison, broker for Harrison Resource Corp. and representative for the Soapstone and Red Mountain ranches.

Red Mountain Ranch is home to nesting golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, prairie falcons, mountain lions, black-tailed prairie dogs, elk and mule deer. The ranch also contains several imperiled plant communities.

The county and city are working together to provide guided tours to the Red Mountain and Soapstone ranches this summer, including tours for organized horse groups. Information will be posted on the county's web site at www.larimer.org/parks under upcoming events. It will be several years, however, before the properties are open for general public use.

Larimer County will begin implementing its management planning process this year, with a final plan to be adopted in the winter of 2007. Construction of trails and trailheads would follow.

"We intend to develop our management plan jointly with the city of Fort Collins for Red Mountain and Soapstone ranches," said K-Lynn Cameron, Larimer County open lands manager. "We must take our time and do a thorough job. Because of the sheer size of these properties - 26,000 acres combined - it will take longer than usual."

The Laramie Foothills: Mountains to Plains project is sponsored by Larimer County, Fort Collins, The Nature Conservancy and the Legacy Land Trust. It will protect 55,400 acres north of Fort Collins creating a mountain-to-plains conservation zone of approximately 140,000 acres. Much of the land making up the corridor has been ranched for more than a century, which means the native grasslands are still intact. Another valuable quality is the prolonged transition, rather than abrupt break, from high plains grasslands to the Rocky Mountains, Cameron said.