Stewardship: Preservation, Conservation and Ranching
Caretakers
Our guiding philosophy is simple: If we take care of our land it will take care of us.
For us, this means working with the land to raise our animals as naturally as possible while insuring we protect the habitat for the wildlife and geology that keeps our ranch healthy and unique. We see ourselves as stewards, caretakers of our land.
The Valley in Spring
A Pristine River Valley
Our home ranch spans, ridgeline to ridgeline, one of the very few unspoiled riparian foothills habitats left on the Front Range of Colorado. There is no road up the river on our ranch nor the ranch above us; our access is from the side.
This lack of a road means that a large stretch of the river is in excellent health and consequently we have abundant wildlife on our property, with some species that can be found almost nowhere else in the world.
The River in Summer
Habitat Protection
To protect our unique habitats, we fence out some areas and restrict grazing in others via management intensive grazing. We are a Colorado Natural Area and we work with the Colorado Natural Areas Program (CNAP), of which we were one of the first members and one of the very few private landowners in the program.
We also work with the USDA's National Resources Conservation Service
Resisting Development Pressures
Because our valley is so unpopulated, and because it is so close to the major population centers of Colorado, the government has repeatedly attempted to condemn our ranch and our neighbors' properties to build a reservoir. Four times in the last forty years we have fought the dam off, hopefully for good, as their last attempt about five years ago resulted in the decision to build the reservoir elsewhere.
We are merely caretakers of the land and we will continue to work hard to raise our beef in partnership with nature and to conserve and preserve our ranchland for future generations.
