An open space donation – 240 acres near Marble.

Pitkin County Open Space and Trails is closing out 2024 with a 120-acre conservation effort in the pipeline, capping a remarkable year of land protection. In all, 1,142 acres will be protected through either an open space purchase or via a conservation easement initiated this year.

On the open space side, the year began with announcement of a deal to purchase the historic Snowmass Falls Ranch, a landmark, 650-acre property. The formerly private inholding within the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area was purchased for $34 million – a record sum for the Open Space and Trails program, which continues to work toward the transfer of the ranch into federal ownership for permanent, wilderness protection.

The ranch was not the only open space acquisition of the year, though. In November, 240 acres of wilderness-quality open space in Gunnison County near Marble were donated to Pitkin County’s Open Space program. The land, bisected by Rapid Creek, is surrounded on three sides by the White River National Forest. Private property to the east makes the property largely inaccessible, but for a steep climb through the national forest.

In July, the program accepted the donation of a 10-acre mining claim on Taylor Pass Road. The property had already been sterilized from development through the county’s Transferable Development Right, or TDR, program. A TDR allows a landowner to sell a development right off a parcel for use elsewhere.

Open Space and Trails also conserved 122 acres in the Thompson Divide area in 2024 through its conservation easement program. Conservation easements permanently protect private property from future development. Landowners may sell an easement to gain monetary value for their land, offer to conserve property as part of a development proposal or conserve lands to obtain a tax credit.

The majority of the acreage protected by Open Space and Trails is held privately in conservation easements. These private parcels are generally not accessible to the public, but their habitat, agricultural and scenic values are protected in perpetuity.

Conservation easements recorded in 2024 include 42 acres bordering Pitkin County’s Thompson Divide Ranch Preserve (a 410-acre open space property) and a separate 80 acres that also abuts Thompson Divide Ranch.

Finally, a conservation easement covering 120 acres on Prince Creek Road has been approved on first reading by the Board of County Commissioners. Final ordinance adoption is scheduled later this month.

Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Property Inventory
(anticipated at close of 2024)
Open Space – 6,216 acres
Conservation Easements – 18,224 acres
Total Conserved Lands – 24,690 acres

Newly conserved land in Thompson Divide.