Udall Thanks Costilla County Landowner for Making Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area Possible
Mark Udall thanked conservationist and Costilla County landowner Louis Bacon today for donating an easement containing nearly 77,000 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and making possible the creation of the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area.
“Mr. Bacon’s donation of this incredible conservation easement is welcome news for Coloradans who treasure this area and can now rest assured that it will be protected for generations to come. I want to commend him for the example he is setting for other landowners in Costilla County and across the state who are interested in protecting the wildlife and working landscapes that sustain our local economies and way of life,” Udall said. “This announcement reflects a first-of-its-kind partnership in this part of Colorado, where a private landowner, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and a nonprofit land trust have made a shared commitment to the conservation of one of the most pristine private landholdings in the southern Rockies. It has been said that we don’t inherit the earth from our parents — we borrow it from our children. The establishment of the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area ensures that this scenic gem will continue to provide abundant wildlife and clean water for future Coloradans to enjoy.”
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and others at the History Colorado Center today signed the new easement and cooperative agreement, thanked Bacon, and unveiled the establishment of the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area. Bacon’s commitment to conservation at Trinchera Ranch and the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement marks one of the first cooperative arrangements of its kind among the federal government, a private land trust and a private landowner.
Trinchera Ranch is the largest contiguous, privately owned ranch in Colorado. The ranch supports significant numbers of elk, mule deer, mountain lions, Rio Grande cutthroat trout and is where the popular public hunting program, Ranching for Wildlife, was established.
For more information about the Service’s partnership work in the San Luis Valley or the proposed Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Mountain-Prairie’s homepage at: www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/.