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Eagle Rock Ranch
The Eagle Rock Ranch was homesteaded in 1870 by an ancestor
of the current landowners and grew to over 50 sections by the
early 1900s. Over time, the landowners have had difficulty
keeping the ranch intact and have had to sell off parts of
it, leaving the current ownership land area of around 15,000
acres (additional parts of the ranch have been protected by
the family in foundation ownership). The landowners would like
to reassemble the ranch to its historical size given the resources
to do so, and both Legacy Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy
hope to be helpful in facilitating this.
The ranch is located in a unique region of northern Colorado
where roads have yet to penetrate in a significant way; where
its ecological values, particularly its habitat for migrating
grassland birds, are of international interest; and where the
current agricultural uses of the property (raising cattle)
is largely in concert with the protection of these ecological
values. On a map of the region, the Chalk Bluffs area does
not show the grid system of county roads as elsewhere on the
eastern plains, due largely to the broken terrain of the Chalk
Bluffs. This lack of access has served thus far to protect
the region from residential and industrial development. The
scope of landscape-scale unbroken prairie is truly remarkable—from
U.S. 85 on the west, one can travel eastward for over 20 miles
encountering only one county road and a handful of unimproved
private ranch roads.
In 2004, The Nature Conservancy completed a conservation easement over 4,640
acres of the ranch. In 2005 and again in 2007, Legacy Land Trust partnered with
The Nature Conservancy, Great Outdoors Colorado, and the U.S
Fish and Wildlife Service and completed two conservation easements
protecting a total of 8,628 acres.
Stonewall Creek Ranch
Legacy Land Trust completed a 504-acre conservation easement
on the Tepee Rings portion of the ranch in 2002. We then applied
for, and received, a grant from the Colorado Division of Wildlife
to purchase a conservation easement for the portion of the
ranch along Stonewall Creek. An additional funding partner
was the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Program.
Stonewall Creek is designated a potential Preble’s meadow
jumping mouse habitat. The elevation of the creek is approximately
6,000 feet. The property is host to diverse plant communities
including mixed-grass prairie, mountain mahogany shrublands,
riparian and wetland communities.
Vegetation along the entire stretch of Stonewall Creek on the
Stonewall Creek Ranch has extremely high wildlife habitat conservation
value; contains wetland/riparian areas with dense stands of
willow, lush grass cover, mature cottonwood trees including
a large cottonwood gallery, contains an active great blue heron
heronry, and several beaver dams.
Wildlife species present include: mule deer, elk, bobcat, beaver,
mountain lion, pronghorn, black bear, Preble’s meadow
jumping mouse, small mammals, rough-legged hawk, golden eagles,
great-horned owls, bald eagles (winter use), bobolink (breeding),
lark bunting, lark sparrow, common snipe, numerous species
of waterfowl, amphibians, reptiles, and native fish.
The Land Trust is pleased to have worked with these partners,
and applaud the owners of the ranch for their conservation
vision, which they have made a reality. |
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