The Lyon family conserves land and water resources that have supported a connected cattle operation and critical wildlife habitat for decades.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media contact: Karina Puikkonen, karina@ccalt.org, 720.557.8277

August 13, 2024

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) announces the completion of a new 413-acre conservation easement with Jolene and James Lyon on J+J Ain’t Lyon Ranch in Routt County. The County’s Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) Program provided financial support that helps to ensure the Lyons’ ranch and its important water rights remain part of the area’s agricultural landscape, while also supporting critical wildlife habitat. Funding for the PDR Program is derived from a 1.5 mill levy in County property tax approved by voters through 2035.

“Jolene’s dedication to conserving her family’s ranch has been unwavering over the past two years that we’ve been working together,” said John Gioia, CCALT’s Director of Transactions. “This area of Routt County is facing increasing pressure from residential development so we are grateful for Jolene’s choice to partner with CCALT in ensuring that her family’s ranch will remain a viable agricultural operation for generations to come.”

J+J Ain’t Lyon Ranch, located eight miles north of the Town of Hayden, has been in Jolene’s family for 65 years. The property continues its historical use for hay production and livestock grazing as a working cattle ranch run in conjunction with a neighboring ranch. Elkhead Creek flows east to west through the property, irrigating hay fields on either side, and supporting a natural storage reservoir of riparian areas and wetlands. The Lyons have watched the land around the property become developed and subdivided over the years, and Jolene wanted to conserve her family’s ranch and decreed water rights from future development.

“I decided to work with (CCALT) to conserve the ranch because I know what it means to my family and I that we ensure it will remain together as a ranch forever,” said Jolene Lyon. “It will also protect habitat for all the animals I see every day on the ranch. I am thankful that (CCALT) and the County gave us this opportunity.”

The conservation easement features a mixture of hilltops and valley bottoms with sagebrush, shrublands, woodlands, open meadows and pasture, agricultural fields, creeks and ponds all of which provide diverse critical habitat for wildlife. The lands support Greater Sage Grouse, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, and elk migration corridors, plus elk summer range and winter concentration areas. Elkhead Creek and its riparian corridor sustain imperiled bird species, including greater sandhill cranes, bald eagles, and golden eagles.

J+J Ain’t Lyon Ranch is part of a historical agricultural landscape with many surrounding private rangelands used for grazing and hay production. Elkhead Reservoir State Park is just a mile downstream, relying on the protected nature of lands and waters along Elkhead Creek and other streams above it. CCALT holds conservation easements on over 8,600 acres within 10 miles of J+J Ain’t Lyon Ranch with another 20,000 acres held by other conservation organizations. This new conservation easement contributes to this larger landscape of scenic open space and natural beauty that are of great importance to Routt County.

About the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust
The Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) is a nonprofit land conservation organization whose mission is to “…conserve Colorado’s western heritage and working landscapes for the benefit of future generations.”

The Routt County PDR Program (PDR) program is a land protection tool in which a property’s development rights are purchased from willing landowners. Funding for the PDR Program is derived from a 1.5 mill levy in County property tax approved by voters through 2035. In exchange for County funds, the landowner grants a perpetual conservation easement, or deed restriction on the property, thereby permanently protecting the land from development. The PDR Program provides landowners an economically attractive alternative to selling land for development by compensating them for the development rights on their land. Ownership of the property remains vested with the landowner, who can use and manage the property consistent with the terms of the conservation easement.