(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — Conservationist groups and military organizations are in the process of acquiring 20,000 acres in southeastern El Paso County, known as Bohart Ranch.
The project marks the beginning stages of a significant conservation effort involving the Trust for Public Land (TPL), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT), Colorado Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), and Palmer Land Conservancy (PLC) and the United States Department of Defense (DOD).
The property, currently owned by the Colorado State Land Board, which is near Yoder and Ellicott, is part of a project to protect the land from future development.
“We all moved out here because of the wide open spaces, the opportunity to see wildlife,” said Wade Shelton, senior project manager for TPL.
This is why conservationists have set their sights on this particular parcel of land.
“Not all land should be public,” Shelton said. “And, this project is going to enable the Trust for Public Land and the Nature Conservancy to acquire the Bohart Ranch land from the land board and permanently conserve it.”
The project came together with a $2.175 million grant from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO).
“We’ve had an opportunity over our 30-year history to conserve a lot of the… last great places, if you will, in Colorado, and I think this is another of those examples,” said Chris Yuan-Farrell, director of programs for GOCO.
Bohart is home to a variety of different plants and animals, including more than 200 plant species, over 40 species of native mammals, and several rare and threatened animal and plant species.
“The gorgeous beauty of this region really speaks for itself,” said Rebecca Jewett, CEO of PLC. “And land conservation is incredibly urgent.”
But, this land also has a more pressing purpose.
“This project is part of a larger effort to protect land around military bases,” Jewett said.
Protecting developments from encroaching onto military installations which could hinder training.
“If the development that we’re seeing… started coming right on the boundaries of the Air Force Academy… Air Force Academy can’t fly there, too,” Shelton said. “The noise is too great. The risk of a plane crashing on somebody’s house, you know, because these are cadets, they’re learning, you can’t have that.”
Conservationists said this is why this project is heralded the best of both worlds by all agencies.
“It’s a win, win, win for our community,” Jewett said. “And again, this is the first project of many more over a series of years to come. So we’re so excited we got this first one done.”
This project is the continuation of efforts to successfully conserve land around Buckley Air Force Base near Aurora.
More projects are planned, including acquiring flyover land near Schriever Air Force Base amounting to 3,800 acres, the just over 1,000-acre Aiken Canyon Preserve near Fort Carson, and the 8,800 acres off Colorado 115, known as Table Mountain.
