A grant will help preserve a ranch within the Uncompahgre National Forest.
The Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust received $436,000 to conserve 705 acres of the Galley Ranch. The money comes from Great Outdoors Colorado.
"That funding will be used to secure a perpetual easement on the Galley Ranch located just to the east of Nucla and Naturita on the southwest end of the Uncompahgre Plateau," says Erik Glen, the executive director of the land trust.
Glenn says the 1147-acre property is one of the last inholdings within the Uncompahgre National Forest. And, this is the final parcel of it to be preserved.
"What also makes this ranch unique is the heritage, specifically the family heritage," he says. "Three generations of the family are actively engaged in agricultural operation on the ranch. We are seeing less and less of that in Colorado."
The ranch is in a part of Montrose County that’s historic range for the threatened Gunnison sage grouse.
The Galley family plans to continue allowing public access on the land through youth agricultural education and hunting.
