Northern Colorado land managers are celebrating what they see as a major conservation victory.

Larimer County’s Natural Resources Department recently announced finalizing conservation easements across three ranches totaling 4,800-plus acres in the Livermore Valley — legal agreements protecting the natural scene viewed along Red Feather Lakes Road.

“The viewshed is such an iconic one,” said Meegan Flenniken, the county’s land conservation, planning and resource division manager. “This corridor toward Red Feather Lakes is one most people can say, Yeah, I can picture that right away, and thank goodness it’s conserved.”

The conservation easements were agreed to by a family that has overseen livestock grazing and hay production for five generations. Their land will remain private as that work continues.

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Flenniken noted the 4,800-plus acres — closer to 5,200 acres including a previous conservation easement established — is surrounded by Roosevelt National Forest and state-owned lands. Larimer County credited the latest easements for achieving more than 100,000 acres of contiguous, conserved land.

“The way we think about it in Larimer County is, we have signature open spaces or state wildlife areas or U.S. Forest Service areas that do have significant public access, and by conserving the lands around those properties with conservation easements, it enhances the experiences when you’re on those properties,” Flenniken said.

That’s at “a much lower cost up front” compared with an acquisition, she said. “And we also don’t have the cost of maintenance and management.”

Larimer County committed $8.9 million to the project. The city of Fort Collins committed $3 million, and other contributions came from Great Outdoors Colorado and The Nature Conservancy.

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The parties aligned with what the county identified as the “key position” of the ranchland within the Laramie Foothills Mountains to Plains Project. That’s a broader, long-term mission to protect the region’s natural character amid growth and development.

This part of the Livermore Valley has ranked high on the Colorado Natural Heritage Program’s list of biodiversity sites. Lone Pine Creek streaks the valley of grassland overlooked by rocky bluffs and Livermore Mountain.

Development was not imminent, Flenniken said. “But you don’t have to go very far up the road toward Red Feather Lakes, beyond this landscape, to see what could’ve happened.”

The conservation comes amid a wave of significant projects under Larimer County in recent years. The purchase of 1,547-acre Canyon Edge Open Space represents one example, along with expansions to Red Mountain and Red-tail Ridge open spaces.

In 2018, voters extended the county’s sales tax fund for open space. More than 12,000 acres have been conserved in the past eight years, Flenniken said.

“We’ve added 25% to our portfolio in a really short period of time,” she said. “And we hope to be able to keep pace with that and conserve these key landscapes.”

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