An Earth Day Success: Protecting Boulder Creek Canyon Ranch

The Nature Conservancy Purchases Conservation Easement to Save Wildlife Habitat in Boulder

Salt Lake City, Utah—19 April 2006—Just in time for Earth Day 2006, The Nature Conservancy has exercised its option to purchase a 298-acre conservation easement which will protect the scenic Boulder Creek Canyon Ranch in the heart of Boulder, Utah. The result: an innovative partnership between John Austin, the ranch’s owner, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Utah Quality Growth Commission, the State Department of Agriculture, private funders and the Conservancy which will preserve this very significant property and protect its critical wildlife habitat from development forever.

“Taking action is a great way to celebrate Earth Day,” said Dave Livermore, the Conservancy’s Utah State Director. “Boulder Creek Canyon Ranch supports unique plant communities and animal species, and it also represents a slice of Utah’s historic agricultural past that deserves protection. With this easement, the Austin family will be able to continue to ranch and farm this very special place and the property will remain on the tax roles. At the same time, the ranch’s natural features will be protected and enhanced for future generations.”

Tucked in a fertile valley, at the foot of Garfield County’s Boulder Mountain, the pastoral Boulder community is a gateway to the some of our state’s most spectacular landscapes, including the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. The region’s natural gradient creates a great diversity of ecologically significant habitats. Riparian areas support a wealth of neotropical migratory birds, while creeks provide habitat for rare fish such as the Colorado River cutthroat trout. Canyons provide suitable habitat for the Mexican spotted owl and peregrine falcon, and also serve as migratory corridors for elk, black bear and mountain lions. In addition, the soils of Boulder Creek Canyon Ranch are of the highest quality making this project eligible for NRCS Farm and Ranchland Protection Program funding.

“We’re really excited to be working with the Conservancy to put an easement on our ranch,” said John Austin. “It would be a real shame to see Boulder lose its character and its open spaces to the increasing pressure of development. I feel like we are making a crucial step in helping to preserve the Boulder area and this very special corner of the West.”

Recently, Boulder ranching operations have been combined or sold, as landowners are forced to find more profit by turning to development. The threat of development means not only fragmentation of critical habitat and a loss of open space and agriculture, but a loss of this community’s way of life.

Boulder Creek Canyon Ranch has been a successful cattle ranch for years. John Austin runs a cow/calf operation, and grows alfalfa using organic agricultural practices. A key feature of the property, which will be protected by the conservation easement, is a lush riparian area along Boulder Creek. The easement will permit John Austin to graze cattle in a planned, responsible manner and grow crops while improving water quality and potentially water quantity in the creek. In addition, it calls for the Conservancy and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to help him develop a farm protection and management plan to restore riparian areas and removing invasive weeds in order to improve native vegetation.

Having exercised its option, the Conservancy has formally committed to complete the easement purchase which is expected to close in 30 days. John Austin and his wife Jacqui Smalley are donating $295,000 of the $1,883,000 appraised value of the easement. $400,000 each will come from the NRCS’s Farmland Protection Program and the Utah Quality Growth Commission’s LeRay McAllister Critical Lands Conservation Fund. The Cumming Foundation has contributed $250,000 in private funding. The George S. and Delores Dore Eccles Foundation is extending a zero interest loan to the project until the remaining $538,000 needed can be raised. Ultimately, once all funds are secured and the project is completed, the easement will be held in perpetuity by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.

“We hope this is a first step in our work to protect Boulder’s incredible landscapes and wildlife habitat,” said Linda Whitham, the Conservancy’s Central Canyonlands Program Manager. “We’d like to collaborate with landowners, public officials and others to help protect and restore key natural areas—and to help continue the agricultural traditions that make Boulder so special.”

“If we are to preserve Utah’s critical agricultural and wildlife lands,” added Brad Barber, a member of the Utah Quality Growth Commission, “these types of public/private partnerships will be essential. There is no doubt that more funding is needed in the LeRay McAllister Fund to make more of these critical partnerships possible.”

The Conservancy is now seeking $538,000 in private funds to help complete this exciting Earth Day project. Momentum is building. In a separate Boulder transaction, local landowner Tom Hoyt made a 100% donation of a 200 acre conservation easement to the Conservancy along Deer Creek last December. To find out how you can contribute, contact The Nature Conservancy’s Utah Field Office at utah@tnc.org or (801) 531-0999.

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit us on the Web at nature.org.