Paradise Lost?

tanjabrittonwriter 44 Comments

In last week’s post about Sanora Babb’s remarkable memoir, An Owl on Every Post, the Great Plains play a central role. Today I want to talk more about Chico Basin Ranch, my very own favorite place on the plains not too far from Colorado Springs, which straddles both El Paso County, my home county, and neighboring Pueblo County to the south. It has occupied my heart and soul for many good reasons and has resulted in a number of previous posts. If you are interested in reading or re-reading them, please click here, or on the heading Chico Basin Ranch on top of my homepage.

More recently, Chico Basin Ranch has been a source of sadness and worry, and the following letter I submitted online to the Colorado State Land Board in the autumn 2023 during a letter-writing campaign, urged by a number of advocacy groups, will show why:

To the Colorado State Land Board:

I am contacting you in advance of the State Land Board’s upcoming meeting on November 8, 2023 during which the future of Chico Basin Ranch will be discussed.

I am very concerned about the State Land Board’s plan to terminate its contract with Ranchlands and reassign the ranch’s management to Flying Diamond. Why is it necessary to change something that is tried and true and has worked for over two decades? Why not leave good enough alone?

Chico Basin Ranch is one of Colorado’s most remarkable ecosystems. The combination of shortgrass prairie, sandsage prairie, creeks, and wetlands is exceedingly rare in our state and is under increasing threats because of urban sprawl and unchecked growth along the Front Range. As guardians of Colorado’s precious land, it should be one of your major priorities to preserve as many of these habitats in as close to their natural state as possible.

Ranchlands has a proven track record in conservation and has shown that ecology and economy do not have to be mutually exclusive. Their holistic philosophy has enabled them to both keep the ranch as wild as possible, while also raising beef in a sustainable way, garnering them the “Excellence in Rangeland Conservation Award” by the Society of Range Management, to name only one of a number of awards.

Ranchlands and the Phillips family have also welcomed the birding community with open arms. As a person who loves birds, visits to Chico Basin Ranch are regular parts of my birding year, regardless of the season, as both the portions in El Paso and Pueblo County sides are top birding hotspots with an incredible variety of species. The same goes for insects and some other animals as well as for many plants.

I must also express my deep disappointment that the Land Board has felt it necessary to curtail access for birders to Chico Basin Ranch. Bird lovers from near and far have had year-round access to this birding paradise for decades and having this access reduced to only a few short weeks in the spring and fall with limited visiting hours will severely diminish the experience of a Chico visit. I have to reiterate my question: Why not leave good enough alone?

I strongly urge you to renew the agricultural lease for Chico Basin Ranch with Ranchlands, instead of awarding it to a new, unknown entity that does not know and love the place like Ranchlands. While I appreciate and approve of the Land Board’s mission to support public education in Colorado, the health and ecology of the land you own must be at least as important as the bottom line.

As we all know, the health of the land affects everybody else’s health and there are few places left that are as unique as Chico Basin Ranch. It deserves the best possible care and Ranchlands has proven that it can provide exactly that.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tanja Britton

How many letters of this nature have been written by many of us? How many have been written in vain, just like this one?

To the Phillips family’s and the birding community’s abject disappointment, the Colorado State Land Board voted on November to do the exact opposite of the wishes expressed in my missive, which is representative of what many other birders, conservationists, and supporters of the Phillips family advocated. As a consequence, the family will have to leave their home of nearly 25 years behind in 2025.

Also, starting in March of this year, access to the ranch for birders will be limited to 5 weeks each, during spring and fall migration, namely April 19-May 31 and September 2-October 6 in 2024. The hours on those days will be limited from 7 AM until 1 PM. The areas to be birded will be limited to just three: the banding station in El Paso County, and Headquarter and Rose Ponds in Pueblo County. To the uninitiated this might seem reasonable, but compared to unlimited access to the entire 87,000 acre ranch every day of the year, it is a measly offering. What’s more (or less, in effect)—birders will only be able to visit the ranch by making a previous reservation and the number admitted will be limited to 20/day. There will be a $15 fee per visit, which is unchanged, but the discount for groups with 10 or more members as well as the annual membership with unlimited access will no longer be available.

The Aiken Audubon Society, the local chapter of the National Audubon Society, has advocated tirelessly on behalf of Chico Basin Ranch, to keep the ranch intact, to renew the lease with Ranchlands, to keep open access to the ranch. It has now negotiated a layered lease with the State Land Board and will be responsible for administering access through a reservation system. Follow this link to the website of Aiken Audubon for more details.

Chico cowboy at the turnoff to the banding station. No longer will a friendly “howdy” greet visitors to Chico Basin Ranch.

A list of all the bird species banded at the banding station at Chico Basin Ranch in 2023

A small band of pronghorn on Chico’s grassland, always alert, always weary of humans. Their numbers are in decline.

A lone coyote, at home at Chico Basin Ranch

One of my favorite animals. Chico Basin Ranch is one of the few remaining places where I can reliably see porcupines.

Gone are the days when birders or other visitors from near and far could journey to Chico spontaneously to try to get familiar with the grassland ecosystem and its usual denizens, or to find one of the rare birds who often make an appearance at this oasis along their migratory route, which accounts for the ranch being the number one birding hotspot in El Paso, and the number two in Pueblo County (as of January 15, 2024 eBird lists 309 different bird species for the ranch in El Paso, and 320 in Pueblo County).

To come back to my question in the title, is this paradise lost?

Although the above changes signify loss, there is hope that the new organization to take over the lease will also prove to be good stewards of the land. The Land Board’s original plan a few years ago to divide the ranch into several parcels and lease them out separately was changed in response to a previous letter-writing campaign, which was a positive, as it prevented fragmentation of habitat. The bird banding station, operated by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies for decades, will also be allowed to continue to band birds and collect valuable data twice a year during bird migration, which is reassuring, at least for now.

But what the future will hold beyond the next few years is unknown, as are the motivations of the State Land Board. One can only hope that they are aware of the preciousness and pricelessness of this portion of prairie on Colorado’s plain beyond pecuniary considerations.

View of Pikes Peak from Headquarter Pond at Chico Basin Ranch

PS: I took all photos in this post during a visit to Chico Basin Ranch in late December 2023, which felt a little bit like a goodbye. While I intend to return there in January and February, while I still have the opportunity to move freely without constraints, I’m already mourning what I and what so many of us will have lost once the Land Board’s new regulations take effect.

Waning December Moon

44 thoughts on “Paradise Lost?”

  1. Well, your State Land Board did the exact opposite to the wishes of the vast majority. Am I surprised? No not really, happens the world over. Call me Mr Cynical but I wonder were palms greased, pockets lined. Is there an ulterior motive? After all access is now being denied to all but a tiny segment of this land so who knows what is planned.
    Sorry for your loss Tanja.

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    • Thank you for your comment, Brian. I really don’t understand why the land board made this decision. They are supposed to bring in money for public schools, so I have to assume that it was financially motivated. I’m also cynical… 😦

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  2. This seems to an outsider like me to be a tragic lost for birders, and potentially for environmental and species protection. The State Land Board’s motives are suspiciously unclear, and this lack of openness leads me to fear the worst. But let’s hope that I’m wrong, and that in due course the restrictions are relaxed.

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  3. I also wondered, like your first commenter, whether some shenanigans were going on behind the scenes. I was going to ask you, and then I got to your line “But what the future will hold beyond the next few years is unknown, as are the motivations of the State Land Board,” so it seems you don’t know the real reasons either.

    The outcome is hardly what you wanted, and I understand your feeling of loss. At least you’ll still have partial access for portions of the year. (In contrast, the losses of dozens of small sites in the Austin area in recent years are permanent losses.)

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  6. “there is hope that the new organization to take over the lease will also prove to be good stewards of the land”
    I’m keeping my fingers crossed, Tanja.
    I love your pictures show why the ranch is worth being kept as it is.

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  7. Have the new stewards of the land published what their intentions will be? Not being from Colorado, is the Land Board elected or appointed? Without much information available, we can only suspect less than honorable intentions. If it were going to be the same or better, someone would have published that by now. In the absence of information, usually something needs to be hidden. Sorry for the anticipated loss.

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    • According to the State Land Board webpage, there are five commissioners on the who are “appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the legislature.”
      Throughout this entire frustrating process I had the impression that the commissioners, once appointed, are free to make their decisions without having to justify them. And apart from having granted the land lease to a new entity and limiting access, I’m not aware of their future plans.

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  8. I can understand your feelings, Tanja. That’s such a vast tract of land, and to lose your unfettered access to it, after enjoying its freedoms previously must be distressing. Let’s hope the long term plan works out better than these initial indications.

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  9. I am so sorry that they will be restricting access to this land. It sounds like a gem for wildlife and the people who love it. Let’s hope public pressure can push the new managers, to respect the wishes of the people in your state and the animals that live there. I’m crossing my fingers.

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  12. Your letter is excellent, but it’s very sad that the board is restricting access for birders (and other wildlife lovers). One has to wonder what the underlying reasoning is…

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    • Thank you, Tina. It is sad to lose open access, and even sadder for the family who has made their home on the ranch for 2+ decades and raised their families there. The land board did not explain their decision.

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  13. I couldn’t quite sort out who actually owns the land. Is it the state? Was Ranchlands and the Phillips family employed as managers? We’ve often enough seen both private and public land made inaccessible here, and it’s always a grief. Was any attempt made by groups like the Nature Conservancy to purchase the land? or would the cost have been prohibitive? Of course, even certain areas managed by the Nature Conservancy aren’t available to the public here except at very limited times. Some of the richest areas for native plants are privately held, and their locations are closely guarded — wisely, to be honest. I hope that as things settle out here you’ll find ways to contineu enjoying a spot that’s so precious to you.

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    • The way I understand it, Colorado set aside trust land when it became a state in 1876 and entrusted this land to the State Land Board to manage, with the goal to raise money for public education. Much of the land is leased to different entities. Chico Basin Ranch has been leased for 25 years to Ranchlands, an organization run by the Phillips family. Now the Land Board decided to terminate that lease and award it to another entity, against the wishes of the Phillips family. I don’t think we know why. And it’s not clear why the board decided to limit access to the ranch.
      I don’t think the land was ever up for sale.
      I’m trying to maintain an open mind.

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  14. Leider gibt es auch bei uns ähnliche Probleme, denen wir hier nachgehen müssen. Ich finde dein Engagement ganz toll. Zum Glück haben wir in der Schweiz in vielen Dörfern noch mehr oder weniger aktive Natur- und Vogelschutzvereine, die zu ihren kleinen Natur-Bijous und Oasen in der Nähe schauen. Heb’s guet ond Grüess. Ernst

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    • Danke für den Kommentar, lieber Ernst. Viele Vogel- und Naturliebhaber haben sich engagiert, um diese Ranch in ihrem momentanen Zustand zu erhalten. Leider hat es nicht viel genutzt, und der Frust ist groß. Wir hoffen aber, daß das Ökosystem überleben wird.
      Es ist wichtig, daß wir uns für die Orte einsetzen, die uns am Herzen liegen und die ökologisch wichtig sind.
      Sei herzlich gegrüßt,
      Tanja

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  15. What a tremendous loss to Colorado’s birders and wildlife watchers, and for you personally. Is it possible to try to work with the new group, to gain their attention in what the Colorado people are losing, to try to gain more leniency in the future? Surely, someone in this group has a heart for wildlife and nature. I want to say, “right?” but I worry a bit on saying that… 😦

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  16. That is terribly sad. It is starting to be recognised that contact with nature is very good for our health, so restricting it like this is a backward step. It’s a backward step for conservation too, since being able to watch wildlife must be one of the main things that builds enthusiasm in young ecologists and conservationists…shame!

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    • Thank you for commenting, Ann. Most of us who care about this property are very saddened and upset by the unnecessary and inscrutable changes that are about to begin. But as I also expressed, there is still hope that the care for the land and everybody who inhabits it, will be at the center of the management plan.

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  18. So sorry to hear what is becoming an all too common story across the states. I hate to say it, but my faith in humanity is fading fast … accelerated by stories like these. I have found it is the absence of transparency that signals ill intent and this is universal across all segments, not just the current broken political space. I can only extend hope and wishes that this plays out better than expected.

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    • Thank you for your comment, Brian. I share your jaded view of humanity but I remind myself that there are many, many individuals who do good things for one another all the time, so that other side thankfully exists also.
      And I’m trying to keep an open mind about the future of Chico Basin Ranch and hope that our fears will be proven wrong.

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