<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1ctFzR_1FWGLRkD00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1ctFzR_1FWGLRkD00" width="1200" height="600" ><p>MONTROSE, Colo. (KJCT) - Horsefly Mesa Ranch, a 1,360-acre property on the south end of Montrose County, is being placed under a conservation easement, permanently protecting it from future development. </p><p>The ranch has been owned by the Vogelaar family for decades. Slade Sowle, whose grandparents owned the property, spent time there as a child.</p><p>“When I was younger, my grandparents were still alive. We would spend summers there, helping build fence and ride horses and all the fun ranch stuff,” Sowle said.</p><h2>Family legacy</h2><p>Sowle’s mother, Anita Vogelaar, took over management of the ranch in 1973 and kept ownership of it until she died. She left the property to conservation in her estate. It is now being donated to Colorado West Land Trust.</p><p>“It’s just a family legacy. Just a special place reminds me of my grandpa and his hard work and life and my mother’s love of it,” Sowle said.</p><h2>Conservation easement</h2><p>The more than 1,300-acre property is placed under a conservation easement with Colorado Open Lands, permanently protecting the ranch from future development.</p><p>“The way we envision this property in keeping with the landowner’s vision is that this property will be conserved forever. So there will be space for one home site in the future as well as some agricultural buildings and the rest of the ranch will stay open for ranching and for wildlife habitat,” said Ilana Moir, conservation director for Colorado West Land Trust.</p><h2>Wildlife habitat</h2><p>The conservation effort is intended to protect both the legacy of the property and the local environment.</p><p>“This 1,300 acre ranch fits so well in the landscape and big chunks of conserved land help provide such critical habitat for big game species, so deer and elk on properties and all the other species that kind of come with that ecosystem,” Moir said.</p><p>“You have fond memories of it as it was, and it would be hard to see it change to, almost something vulgar that development’s inevitable, but in some places it’s better left undone,” Sowle said.</p><h2>Ranching and hunting rights</h2><p>While the Land Trust currently owns the property, the family will retain some ranching and hunting rights for 15 years. The land trust will eventually sell the property to another rancher in the area. Proceeds from that sale will go toward protecting other land in Colorado.</p></div></body>

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MONTROSE, Colo. (KJCT) - Horsefly Mesa Ranch, a 1,360-acre property on the south end of Montrose County, is being placed under a conservation easement, permanently protecting it from future development. The ranch has been owned by the Vogelaar family for decades. Slade Sowle, whose grandparents owned the property, spent time...

1,360-acre Montrose ranch protected from future development

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MONTROSE, Colo. (KJCT) - Horsefly Mesa Ranch, a 1,360-acre property on the south end of Montrose County, is being placed under a conservation easement, per

1,360-acre Montrose ranch protected from future development

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