A Northwest Colorado parcel surrounded by U.S. Forest Service lands looks much like it has for generations, and will remain that way thanks to the Smith Family.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Karina Puikkonen, karina@ccalt.org, 720.557.8277

November 15, 2024

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) announces the completion of a new conservation easement with Smith family that conserves 760 acres on the Slater Park parcel of Smith Ranch. This easement continues Routt County’s commitment to conservation with funding provided by the county’s Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) Program, that uses revenue from property taxes to help purchase conservation easements from willing landowners to permanently conserve land from development.

The Smith Ranch (Slater Park) conservation easement is a remote inholding 24 miles northwest of Steamboat Springs, west of the Continental Divide. The property is unique in that it is surrounded by the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest on all sides. It features open ranchland with montane meadows and mixed conifer and aspen woodlands, with Slater Creek flowing northward directly through the property.  Adding to the more than 80,000 acres conserved by CCALT in Routt County, the Slater Park parcel protects agricultural and conservation values important to this region of Colorado.

“CCALT is honored to partner with the Smith Family and Routt County to permanently conserve the Smith Ranch, Slater Park parcel,” said Courtney Bennett, CCALT’s senior conservation manager. “Conservation of the property is a significant accomplishment, helping achieve the landowners’ long-term vision for the property and building on CCALT and PDR’s aligned goal to protect our western heritage through the conservation of agricultural land.”

The Smith family began ranching in Routt County in 1924 and purchased the Slater Park Property in its entirety in 1935. The Slater Park parcel is used in conjunction with the ranch’s sheep and cattle operation. The Smiths irrigate the property for summer and fall pasture, grazing sheep, cattle, and horses at varying times. The water rights on Slater and Adams creeks are now tied to the land through the conservation easement. The Smiths wanted to keep the property as it is, and the easement provided the tool that will allow them to keep and improve the property and their operations.

“Our primary interest in a conservation easement is to preserve the western working landscape and forever conserve the open space, agricultural productivity, and scenic qualities of Slater Park,” said Leland Smith. “It is our desire to have it remain the same for generations to come, for our family and for the public. It is a treasure and a beautiful spot in Routt County.” 

The Slater Park parcel has remained largely undeveloped with only one adjacent unpaved road and a few concentrated structures on the property’s southeast corner. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program mapped the property within the larger Slater Park Potential Conservation Area, designated as such for its high biodiversity significance. This area includes habitat for greater sage-grouse and production areas for greater sandhill cranes which are two species of greatest conservation need for Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW). 

CCALT holds over 1,500 acres in conservation easements on three other properties within 10 miles of Slater Park, and all these easements are contiguous with nearly 14,000 acres of land under conservation easements with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Conserving the property ensures permanent protection of a significant U.S. Forest Service inholding and builds on CCALT’s growing network of conservation easements along Slater Creek.

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.” CCALT currently holds 80,330 acres in conservation easement in Routt County and has partnered with hundreds of ranching families in the protection of more than 800,000 acres statewide.

The Routt County Purchase of Development Rights (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. Since the initiation of the PDR Program in 1997, the County has helped fund the purchase of conservation easements on over 68,000 acres, at a cost just over $32 million.