The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Potential for construction to impact elk migrations, conservation
[ By Katherine Nettles ]
The former Allen Ranch property near Allen Home Sites off Cement Creek Road has passed some initial hurdles in the new owner’s construction projects and is moving forward. The county has lifted a stop-work order and development on the property has resumed. The property owner, Stewart Hunter, has maintained that an existing conservation easement on part of the 540-acre property will not be violated, but in the meantime the ongoing construction activity has sparked concern among neighbors and wildlife proponents.
Hunter purchased the property from the Allen family in 2021. It consists of 180 acres in a conservation easement established in 1997 with the Crested Butte Land Trust (CBLT) and 360 acres that are not in the easement. A large agricultural barn and roadway have been developed while large berms on the property have been constructed and the owner has secured a Gunnison County land use change permit to remove large quantities of construction material from the site in the process. Hunter did not respond to the most recent requests from the Crested Butte News for comment, but he did formerly respond to News correspondence about his plans for the property, stating, “My family intends to continue using the land for agricultural purposes. As you know, we are making various agricultural improvements, and we may make other residential improvements in the future.”
Hunter constructed large berms last year that somewhat shield his property from neighbors and reportedly also block their views, and Gunnison County issued a stop work order to Hunter in the fall regarding unpermitted removal of construction material exceeding 300 cubic yards used in a gravel operation for the roads on the site.
During the October 6, 2022 Gunnison County planning commission hearing, two nearby residents spoke about the construction and impacts to neighbors and elk migrations during the unscheduled citizens portion of the meeting.
According to the planning commission’s meeting minutes, “Jeff Ewert and Mark Schwiesow, both residents of Allen Road were present to discuss the development on the Hunter property, on Upper Allen Road. Ewert called it an ‘abomination’ and requested help with regulating the berms, etc., that are going up on the property. Schwiesow was concerned the impact of the development would have on the animal migration corridor.”
Assistant county manager of community and economic development Cathie Pagano had explained that at the time the uses of berms and road building permits mentioned were within the agricultural exemptions for the property, and a stop work order had been issued for the gravel operations. Pagano had also suggested that Ewert and Schwiesow work with the CBLT to discuss and enforce the conservation easement.
In the time since, Hunter has secured the needed county permit to remove the material, and the stop work order was lifted.
“The stop work order has been lifted because the applicant submitted the required land use change permit application for extraction of more than 300 cubic yards of construction materials; that permit application met the standards and was approved,” said Pagano. She confirmed that there have been periodic concerns from neighboring property owners. “We have been in contact with the Crested Butte Land Trust but have not been asked to, nor do we have any legal ability to enforce conservation easements,” she concluded.
Construction has continued on the property but no further actions have been called into the public eye by either the county or the CBLT.
According to CBLT executive director Jake Jones, “The Crested Butte Land Trust is in communication with Mr. Hunter to ensure that the barn being built on the lower tier of the property is done in a manner that is permitted by the conservation easement. The maintenance structure being built on Mr. Hunter’s property at the base of Cement Mountain is outside of the conservation easement and access to that parcel is allowed in the easement. The Land Trust and Mr. Hunter are working through other matters related to the conservation easement that cannot be discussed publicly at this time.”
Wildlife biologist Kevin Blecha with Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed by email that elk and deer migrations are generally present along the property, but denied rumors that CPW had attempted to purchase the property to preserve the corridor.
“We weren’t aware until more recently (the last one to two years) of how significant (in terms of the number of animals) the migration corridor in that area was for deer and elk. Furthermore, we have also more recently learned that the corridor is pretty long, and spans from Deer Creek/Brush Creek, crossing Cement Creek (just to the east side of CB South) and then between Round Mountain and the highway, and then on to Signal Peak,” described Blecha.
“There are some animals on this migration corridor system that will then continue travelling south, across Highway 50, to the Cochetopa Canyon area, and then over the Continental Divide to almost the town of Saguache (San Luis Valley side of the Divide).
“We have documented a noticeable proportion of the elk population (the elk population on the eastern side of the Gunnison Basin anyway) making a fairly incredible journey each season travelling a total of 72 miles in the early winter from the upper Taylor and upper East River drainages to just west of the town of Saguache and then back again in the spring,” said Blecha.
Hunter has not submitted any additional development plan for the portion of the property not under the conservation easement or addressed concerns regarding wildlife.
