The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Need $59,000 to seal the deal
The Crested Butte Land Trust and its partners are just weeks—and less than $100,000 dollars—away from conserving nearly 108 acres of land adjacent to the town limits of Mt. Crested Butte, at the base of Snodgrass Mountain. The deal is a long time in the making, and according to land trust executive director Ann Johnston, represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Under the contract for purchase, the Land Trust plans to buy three parcels of land: Promontory Ranch 1 and 2 from a subsidiary of Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR), and a connected parcel from the Ingraham family. All three parcels lie primarily to the west of Gothic Road and to the north of the Fantasy Ranch stables and include portions of the Snodgrass Trail. After purchase, the land trust will place a perpetual conservation agreement on all three properties and donate the land to the town of Mt. Crested Butte.
“The conservation agreement will run with the land forever,” Johnston explained. “The land trust will be responsible for ensuring the landscape and streams (there are three streams on the properties) support an abundance of habitat for wildlife, as well as guaranteeing that the public will always have access to the land. The town will manage the property in terms of maintaining or erecting fences, removing invasives, and maintaining any leases, like the one with Fantasy Ranch.”
At a recent December 16 Mt. Crested Butte Town Council meeting, the land trust and the Town Council set the wheels in motion so that the closing can take place as planned in January. The partners reviewed a contract for the donation of property, the conservation easement, and a land management plan that outlines each partner’s role, and the council gave town manager Joe Fitzpatrick the ability to sign those agreements as needed.
Fitzpatrick says the opportunity to secure the Snodgrass Trail was an important one for the town. “That trail is really critical to our summer and winter economy, and so it really locks in that trail forever and gives Mt. Crested Butte some more open space and parks,” he said, adding that the year-round access to the backcountry is a bonus as well.
There are, however, a few more dollars to raise before all three parcels can be purchased and conserved. To date, the land trust has raised more than $2.7 million for the project. National, state, and local funders like the town of Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte, Great Outdoors Colorado, the Gunnison Valley Land Preservation Fund, 1% for Open Space and the Conservation Fund have pledged a combined $1.5 million. CBMR donated $625,000, and the land trust raised an additional $616,000. That leaves the land trust with an additional $59,000 to raise before January 15, 2015, when the contract for purchase of all three parcels expires.
“Now we need everyone who knows first-hand how special Snodgrass Mountain and the Snodgrass Trail is to help us raise the remaining $59,000. We need to seal the deal and keep Crested Butte a very special place indeed,” Johnston said.
Doing so will pull off a deal that’s been a long time in the making. Johnston explained that the land trust has had its eye on the property for years because of its conservation values, including streams, wetlands, wildflower meadows, healthy forests and scenic views. In November 2013, the ski area accepted a developer’s offer to purchase the entire Promontory Ranch without having placed the land on the market for sale. When that contract fell through a few months later, the land trust immediately started talking to Crested Butte Mountain Resort and the town of Mt. Crested Butte.
“The land trust knew the community would support a plan that balanced the town of Mt. Crested Butte’s interest in growth, the ski area’s expansion plans, and recreationists who find solitude in the mature aspen forests of Snodgrass Mountain,” said Johnston. “Conserving just two out of the four parcels (conserving Parcel 1 and 2, and not 3 and 4 of the Promontory Ranch), and allowing the ski area to develop the remainder truly represents an opportunity for land conservation to flourish without extinguishing any of these diverse community needs.”
To learn more or support the project, visit cblandtrust.org or call the land trust directly at 349-1206.
