Photo of Billy Creek Ranch in Ouray County by Colorado West Land Trust.
January 6, 2025 – GOLDEN – Keep It Colorado will award $551,100 in assistance to six nonprofit Colorado land trusts, which will support landowners who have volunteered to protect their properties through conservation. The 10 selected projects will help permanently protect 7,231 acres encompassing vital wildlife habitat, working farms and ranches. In partnership with Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), Keep It Colorado administers the Transaction Cost Assistance Program (TCAP), which re-grants GOCO funds to nonprofit land trusts to help cover the costs associated with conservation easement transactions. TCAP receives additional support for wetlands projects from Ducks Unlimited. The GOCO board approved its portion of the awards at its board meeting on December 12, 2025 in Golden.
The 10 projects will also collectively conserve a stunning 664 acres of wetlands, and 8 miles of rivers and streams—including stretches of the Arkansas, Dolores, and West Mancos Rivers. These projects will also secure significant water rights, which will be preserved alongside the land for ongoing agricultural and environmental use. Nine of the projects feature active agricultural operations that enhance agricultural resiliency, contributing to Colorado’s diverse agricultural economy, helping sustain long-standing rural communities, and a meaningful component of Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy.
The 10 projects are located in nine counties across Colorado:
Anderson Farm and Ranch, $75,000 to Palmer Land Conservancy
This 265-acre agricultural property sits in the heart of Beulah, a rural community in the foothills of the San Isabel National Forest. Through a robust community visioning process, supported by the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office’s Rural Technical Assistance Program, residents from across the community identified conservation as their top priority and named the Anderson Farm and Ranch as the most important place to protect. The landowner operates a regenerative ranch and also conducts professional research on regenerative practices. The planned conservation easement will protect the property’s productive agricultural land and its associated water rights. It will also include a public trail connecting the local school to downtown Beulah.
Box 6 Ranch Conservation Legacy, $75,000 to Colorado Open Lands
At the base of Thirtynine Mile Mountain, this 2,444-acre ranch is a large, intact, and ecologically diverse landscape that includes more than 70 acres of wetlands. A conservation easement will help protect habitat for dozens of wildlife species, including species of special concern. A fourth-generation rancher and her husband manage the ranch, which is one of the largest agricultural properties in Park County. Their rotational grazing system supports a sustainable ranching operation. The property borders Pike National Forest and sits next to a growing block of conserved lands. Its varied and remote terrain will help the land stay resilient to climate change, supports connected wildlife habitat, adds to the area’s landscape diversity, and allows water to spread naturally across the property.
Frenchman’s Creek Ranch, $15,000 to Central Colorado Conservancy
This project protects one of the largest privately owned but unprotected properties in Chaffee County. Just north of Buena Vista, the 447acre ranch runs along the Arkansas River for about a mile. The property connects the river valley to adjacent national forest land, conserving an important wildlife corridor. This property is one of the most important areas for ungulates that has not been protected. The ranch provides critical wintering habitat for pronghorn, elk, and bighorn sheep. Historically, the ranch has supported grazing on the west side and 80 acres of hay fields on the east. The current owners have improved irrigation to use water more efficiently and plan to continue both farming and hosting limited community uses, such as camping and small events.
Hindmarsh Winter Range, $75,000 to Montezuma Land Conservancy
This 320-acre property is the last piece of private property within a more than 65,000-acre block of protected land surrounding Mesa Verde National Park. The project is timely, as the area experiences growing pressure from low-density housing and energy development. Visible from Highway 160 and from Ruins Road inside the park, the project will protect scenic views as well as high-priority wildlife habitat. The land includes small canyons, seasonal streams, and a mix of shrubland, grassland, and pinyon-juniper forests. Mule deer and other wildlife benefit from the property’s above-average climate resilience, especially during winter. Conserving this property will also allow for continued hunting in the fall and grazing in the winter.
Oxbow Ranch, $49,600 to Colorado West Land Trust
This project will protect 266 acres along the Dolores River in the Paradox Valley of western Montrose County. The ranch includes one mile of river frontage, 125 acres of riparian forest and wetlands, and a cottonwood gallery. It contains important habitat for elk, mule deer, and black bears, and supports bald and golden eagles, great blue herons, and migrating sandhill cranes. The river is home to the “Native Three” warmwater fish species—flannelmouth sucker, bluehead sucker, and roundtail chub—which support a healthy ecosystem. The property is visible from Highway 90 and from a well-loved stretch of the river used by boaters when water levels are high.
Billy Creek Ranch, $44,000 to Colorado West Land Trust
Billy Creek Ranch is a 1,156-acre property in Ouray County, located near the Billy Creek State Wildlife Area and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Its location helps create a continuous habitat for wildlife movement between the San Juan Mountains and the Uncompahgre Plateau. The ranch spans 2,000 feet of elevation change, supporting a wide variety of ecosystems, including Mancos shale badlands, sagebrush flats, oak savannah, pinyon-juniper woodlands, riparian corridors, and aspen groves. The ranch also contains globally rare plant species and sits within one of southwest Colorado’s most important big-game migration corridors. Billy Creek Ranch also hosts a multigenerational working cattle operation. Conserving the property will protect habitat that’s especially resilient to climate change, keep a long-standing ranching tradition alive, and secure a landscape that, in the landowners’ words, means “no Taj-Mahals and plenty of cows” for the next hundred years.
Miller Ranch, $47,000 to Colorado Open Lands
Located northwest of Fort Collins in Buckeye, the Miller Ranch sits in the viewshed of the Laramie Foothills and the Mummy Range in Rocky Mountain National Park. The ranch builds upon the Laramie Foothills Mountains to Plains Project, which has protected more than 140,000 acres in this area. The Miller family has already protected the western part of their ranch and now hopes to place a conservation easement on the remaining 145 acres, including its senior water right. Park Creek, which flows into the Cache la Poudre River, runs through the property and supports wetland and streamside habitat for many animals, including elk, mule deer, pronghorn, and the threatened Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse. The ranch is also home to Bell’s Twinpod, a rare plant found only in Larimer and Boulder counties, which Colorado State University students monitor every year.
Capulin Ranch, $60,500 to Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust
Nestled at the edge of the San Juan Mountains in the San Luis Valley, this 495acre family ranch is home to vibrant wetlands and cottonwood and willowlined creeks that flow yearround. Seasonal wet meadows and the steady waters of La Jara Creek and Hot Creek provide essential habitat for more than 30 species identified in Colorado’s State Wildlife Action Plan. The ranch is also an important winter refuge for elk, mule deer, and pronghorn. Its senior water rights support hay production, cattle grazing, and the natural wetlands that make this landscape valuable for both agriculture and wildlife. Through a conservation easement, those water rights will stay permanently tied to the land, protecting its habitat and workinglands legacy for generations to come.
Blanca Farms, $55,400 to Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust
Near the town of Blanca in southern Colorado, this 1,500acre project is part of a larger family farm, part of which is currently conserved with the Rio Grande Headwaters Land trust. This property is a centerpiece of both agriculture and wildlife habitat. The property includes 411 acres of wetlands and supports a mix of grain and forage crops, livestock grazing, and natural open spaces fed by three creeks and streams that wind through the land. Next to the Smith Reservoir State Wildlife Area—a wellknown haven for waterfowl and a key stop for migrating birds—the farm plays an important role in maintaining the region’s ecological health. A conservation easement will permanently protect the property’s water rights, while allowing the flexibility to lease water for community use when it doesn’t affect habitat or conservation goals. This project strengthens the connection between working lands and wildlife, ensuring a sustainable future for local agriculture and the diverse species that depend on these wetlands. $41,600 of this award comes from Ducks Unlimited and $13,600 comes from GOCO.
West Mancos Project, $55,000 to Montezuma Land Conservancy
The West Mancos project is the final step in a 23-year effort to protect the Mancos River watershed. The vision began in 2002 when the Montezuma Land Conservancy completed its first conservation easement along the West Mancos River. This 165-acre property includes healthy ponderosa pine forests and 1.4 miles of river and streamside habitat. It is the last privately owned stretch of land along the West Mancos River before the river reaches State and then U.S. Forest Service lands. When added to the existing protected lands to the south, conserving this property will complete a permanently protected five-mile stretch of the river and 1,168 acres of land along its corridor. The property provides important winter habitat for elk, and the landowner plans to carry out river restoration and forest health projects as part of Montezuma Land Conservancy’s larger effort to improve conditions for big game and fish species along the West Mancos River. This project will also help safeguard the local watershed and, farther downstream, the Colorado River.
About TCAP
Since 2021 when Keep It Colorado formed TCAP in partnership with GOCO, it has awarded more than $3.5 million in grant assistance to Colorado nonprofit land trusts. This aid enables land trusts to help landowners complete 76 conservation projects and protect over 75,000 acres of critical habitat, local food systems, iconic viewsheds, wetland and river corridors, and places of historic and cultural significance across the state. In providing this assistance, Keep It Colorado eases the financial burden on landowners and enables them to move forward with protecting critical landscapes that are at risk of being subdivided or converted to other uses.
About Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO)
GOCO invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces. GOCO’s independent board awards competitive grants to local governments and land trusts and makes investments through Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Created when voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1992, GOCO has since funded more than 5,800 projects in all 64 counties of Colorado without any tax dollar support. Visit GOCO.org for more information.
About Ducks Unlimited
Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing wetlands, grasslands and other waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has restored or protected more than 18 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science, DU’s projects benefit waterfowl, wildlife and people in all 50 states. DU is growing its mission through a historic $3 billion Conservation For A Continent comprehensive campaign. Learn more at www.ducks.org.
About Keep It Colorado
Keep It Colorado serves as a unified voice for conservation organizations focused on private lands conservation, and does so by bringing together land trusts, public agencies and conservation champions around a vision to create a Colorado where people, lands, waters and wildlife thrive. Keep It Colorado advocates for sound public policy; provides connection and collaboration opportunities for conservation partners; offers a forum to address emerging conservation issues and opportunities; pursues sustainable funding and programmatic tools and solutions; and works to advance a culture of conservation in Colorado. Learn more at www.keepitco.org.
