With the Hill Family Ranches Conservation Easement, 5,000 acres of productive agricultural land and water rights were protected.

In 2019, the conserved properties became part of a 21,000-acre protected area along the Saguache Creek Corridor. In total, the conservation corridor covers 22 miles of creek frontage and more than 2,300 acres of wetlands, which provide important habitat for big game and bird species. The project connects to hundreds of thousands of acres of public land, including the Rio Grande National Forest and the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness.

The protection of the six ranches, including Trickle Mountain Ranch, Marold Ranch, Slain Ranch, Red Barn Ranch, Hunt Springs Ranch, and Hazard Ranch, marks an important milestone in a more than 20-year initiative to conserve critical natural resources in the northwest corner of southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley. The Saguache Creek Corridor has a long history of sustaining productive ranches, stretching 25 miles west from the Town of Saguache. This latest effort will keep the Hill Family’s land in agricultural production, while protecting significant wildlife habitat and ensuring water quality for both humans and wildlife. The ranches are located in one of the very few locations in Colorado where healthy populations of elk, mule deer, moose, mountain lions, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, and pronghorn coexist. The project also preserves high-priority water rights and ensures water quality for native fish species.

After the final conservation papers were signed, the Hill Family didn’t celebrate or buy anything new, they did what they do best; they went home and worked their cattle until dark, excited about what would come next for their family and the opportunities that the conservation of their land has given them. When they were driving back home, 10-year-old Rivers Hill had this to say, “You know, it’s pretty cool that we preserved the ranch today, and now we can do this forever.” 

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) purchased the development rights to each of the ranches in the form of a conservation easement, so the Hill Family can continue to own and work the land, while ensuring that its land will never be developed. Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) will hold the easement in perpetuity. TPL secured funding from GOCO and the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Agricultural Conservation Easement Program to purchase the easement. Both GOCO and NRCS have been critical funding partners to TPL and CCALT as they have worked to protect working agricultural land and water rights along the Saguache Creek Corridor over the decades.