Margaret (Sparky) and Rocky Pappas conserve Nine Mile Ranch lands that support ranching and outfitting in Rio Blanco County.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

March 10, 2025

MEEKER, Colo. – The Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) announces the completion of a new conservation easement with Margaret, known as Sparky, and Rocky Pappas that conserves 2,810 acres on the Nine Mile Ranch in Rio Blanco County. The Nine Mile Ranch conservation easement supports the connectivity and contiguity of the area’s conserved landscape and big game habitat. This new easement also adds to the more than 51,000 acres CCALT already holds in Rio Blanco County.

 “Working with the Pappas family to conserve their stunning property has been one of my highlights working at CCALT,” said CCALT Conservation Manager Monica Shields. “Their passion and stewardship are evident in the management of their ranch. Conserving the ranch will add over 2,800 acres of prime wildlife habitat and important water rights and will protect rangeland that helps to support multiple ranching families.”

The Nine Mile Ranch Conservation Easement lies northeast of the town of Meeker in a rolling hillscape of natural shrublands, pinyon-juniper woodlands, aspen stands, irrigated meadows and riparian areas along Curtis Creek. Decreed irrigation water rights along four miles of Curtis Creek are now protected through the conservation easement and support irrigated hay meadows, livestock grazing, and wildlife habitat.

Sparky and Rocky Pappas have been part of the Meeker community for over 25 years. Sparky’s paternal grandparents were sheep ranchers and purchased the Nine Mile Ranch in the early 1940s and ran their sheep operation through the 1970s. In 1999, Sparky and her husband, Rocky, began leasing the ranch from her family partnership and managed Nine Mile Ranch together until purchasing the property in 2020.  Over the last 25 years, the Pappases have run a big-game outfitting business during the regular hunting seasons and lease the grazing to local ranchers. Sparky and Rocky want to preserve their combined legacy on the ranch, maintain its integrity, and pass it on to heirs who have the same goals.

“I’ve always loved the Nine Mile Ranch. Growing up in Meeker, I was lucky to go to “the ranch.” Although I probably wasn’t much help, I was game to do whatever was going on,” said Sparky Pappas. “The land has provided Rocky and me a good living for over 25 years, and we’re happy to make sure it endures for future generations. As with all ranches, there’s an interesting history worth preserving, and real estate worth conserving. Working with CCALT has been a pleasure!”

The Pappas family is known for their land stewardship efforts. In 2016, they received the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts Rancher of the Year Award for their efforts to improve wildlife habitat and range on the property and for increasing the quality and quantity of their water and forage resources. This community recognition acknowledges their wider contribution to big game hunting and the livestock industry in the region, both critical to the area’s cultural heritage and economic base.

The Nine Mile Ranch property complements the high mountains, steep foothills and canyons, gently rolling parks, and headwater streams found among nearby public landscapes managed by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The wider landscape supports a rich abundance of wildlife, including the largest elk herd in the state of Colorado. The Nine Mile Ranch Conservation Easement adds to this landscape scale habitat connectivity that is so important to sustain these big-game herds.

“The Nine Mile Ranch easement helps us contribute to the on-going conservation efforts in that area,” said Clint Evans, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service state conservationist for Colorado. “The Pappas family’s conservation ethic and commitment to water quality and quantity improvements, as well as wildlife habitat makes them a perfect match for our Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. Their commitment will also help curb the development and conversion of rangelands in the area and maintain its use as a working agricultural operation.”

“Conservation of the land and water of Nine Mile Ranch promotes both agricultural resilience and thriving ecosystems, both of which are incredibly important,” said Hannah George, Keep It Colorado’s programs manager. “We’re glad to have contributed to the success of this project through our Transaction Cost Assistance Program and are inspired by the landowners’ commitment to conservation that benefits current and future generations.”

Keep it Colorado and The Nature Conservancy provided transaction cost assistance for this conservation easement.

About the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust
The mission of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust is to conserve Colorado’s Western heritage and working landscapes for the benefit of future generations. Since 1995, CCALT has partnered with over 450 families to conserve more than 805,000 acres of Colorado farmland, ranchland, open space, and wildlife habitat.

About the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service provides technical and financial assistance to help agricultural producers and others care for the land. The Agency prioritizes conservation planning and uses conservation programs in the Farm Bill to implement most of its efforts including the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program which is designed to protect the agricultural viability, grazing uses and related conservation values of prime agricultural land by limiting nonagricultural uses of that land.

About Keep it Colorado
KIC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to uniting, elevating and empowering Colorado’s conservation community to protect the lands and waters that define our state.

About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, TNC creates innovative, on-the-ground solutions to the world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. TNC is tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more sustainable. To learn more, visit: nature.org/Colorado.

Photo credits: Dawn Reeder