Article by Marcia Darnell
Open Space – October 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine
YOU KNOW that overcrowding has reached insane levels when the San Luis Valley starts a land conservation program. Yep, the place with the Massachusetts-sized area and sparse population is feeling the impact of too many new neighbors.
In addition, many ranchers (already an aging population) are going to that Big Roundup in the Sky, leaving their children with an enormous tax bill. Often, the heirs have to sell the ranch, or part of it, just to pay the inheritance tax on the ranch.
Some land-lovers in the Valley believe that land trusts are the solution to both problems. They’ve started RiGHT, the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust. The organization aims to protect open land in the Valley for future generations, and from excessive development.
“In the early ’90s, cattle ranchers were considered vermin upon the earth, but what people saw was that when cattle ranchers were displaced, what moved in was condos,” says RiGHT president Catherine McNeil. “I could go on and on about the environmental damage that cattle do as opposed to a subdivision – there’s no comparison.”
McNeil and her husband, Mike, raise cattle on 3,000 acres in Rio Grande County. A self-described “recovering geologist,” she knows about watersheds and land contours, as well as wildlife migration patterns and other aspects of land preservation.
She and Mike are the biggest private landowners in the county and Mike is the president of the board governing the Piedra Ditch, a prime irrigation source in their area. Mike is the fourth generation on his ranch.
“I moved here from the Gunnison Valley 20 years ago and saw what was happening there and what it’s become,” Catherine says, “and I’ll do my damnedest to make sure that doesn’t happen here, because I love this place. It’s my chosen home.”
RiGHT focuses on saving any open space, not just agricultural land, although ranchers hold the most land and are therefore the people RiGHT aims to educate. Landowners can donate an easement, or sell it to a willing buyer. For now, RiGHT is a sort of “easement broker,” finding appropriate buyers for the easements landowners want to sell. Most owners in the San Luis Valley cannot afford to donate.
Karen Henderson is RiGHT’s treasurer. She and her physician husband, Colin, own 160 acres in Conejos County. They grow organic vegetables, plus hay, alfalfa, and oats for their own horses on 10 acres.
“We are not anti-development,” she says. “There will be development in the Valley. But when you develop, you need to develop in ways that are smart, ways that preserve ag land and wildlife. You need to plan.”
Henderson and McNeil say that RiGHT’s first job is education. Many people don’t know what land trusts are or how they work, and RiGHT aims to change that in the Valley. Part of that process will be making an inventory of conservation organizations in the region, so they can match sellers and buyers of conservation easements.
RiGHT also hopes to shield the Valley’s water from exportation by linking it to the land easements. Chris Canaly, head of Citizens for San Luis Valley Water, is on RiGHT’s steering committee and helped start the organization. She believes there’s an unbreakable link between land and water conservation.
“Water is going to be threatened as long as land is threatened,” she says.
“It’s a way to unite water with the land permanently,” says Catherine McNeil.
The group has encountered no serious detractors so far. Although many people are ignorant about land trusts, once the information starts to flow, they’re on board.
“I’ve had amazing support for this,” says Henderson. “I call the bank to open an account, and people want to know about land trusts, and what they do.
“People have been able to see what happens with development, and it’s scary.”
Even the real estate agents are behind RiGHT.
“Realtors in other parts of the state have been against trusts,” says McNeil,” but locally, no. I think they realize that the open space is part of what homeowners are buying here.”
RiGHT’s steering committee includes representatives from DOW, the BLM, The Nature Conservancy, the USDA, economic development groups, environmentalists and concerned citizens. Financial and in-kind support totals about $5,000 so far.
RiGHT is preparing for its first membership drive this fall. Charter memberships of $150 and up will be accepted for the first two years, while regular memberships will be $25 per year.
The big kickoff will be Oct. 9 at Firedworks gallery in Alamosa. The Associated Artists, a group of painters and sculptors, will donate 20 percent of the proceeds of their show, “Celebrate the Rio,” to RiGHT.
While concentrating on the baby steps of starting a trust, those guiding RiGHT are looking ahead 100 years, hoping to save the agricultural lifestyle of the San Luis Valley for future generations.
“This is one of the richest farming areas in the country,” says president McNeil, “and it would be a tragedy to lose it.”
For more information on RiGHT, contact Catherine McNeil at 0881 N Highway 285, Monte Vista CO 81144, telephone 719-852-5114, e-mail slvwater@amigo.net. To learn about land trusts, attend the Land Trust Alliance national rally Oct. 14-17 in Snowmass.
Marcia Darnell lives, writes, and enjoys the wide open spaces in the San Luis Valley. She conserves land by not developing her backyard in Alamosa.