PARK COUNTY, Colo. — The state's first-ever elk migration agreement is compensating a Colorado ranch for their work in helping protect habitat for migratory elk herds. The five-year conservation agreement is between Eagle Rock Ranch, the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT), and the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC).
Founded in 1868, Eagle Rock Ranch has been a working cattle ranch and hay operation. The Gottenborg family purchased the land in 2012. The owner, Dave Gottenborg, noticed elk migrating through the area and had witnessed some stuck in fences.
"When we're surrounded by national forest land that is heavily used by recreationists, this is a quiet spot for them where they are not disturbed. They can have their calves and get them up and going before they have to go out onto the forest," Gottenborg said.
To ensure elk would not get stuck on the ranch's fences, Gottenborg implemented different strategies that would not hurt the animals or his financiers. He pointed out an open gate along the fencing, which he's had up for a few years, and explained the herd naturally comes down the hill.
"You can see a path coming down the hill, and that's not horses, it's not cattle, it's elk. So, they're smarter than we give them credit for. If they know there's an open gate, they will use it, and you can tell because we've put this high visibility fencing. It's plastic-coated wire. They can see it at night, and you can see it's in great shape, and this has been up now for 2 or 3 years, and they haven't gotten caught up in this."
Driving into another pasture, he showed a different way of fencing, which he refers to as the "lazy man's way to run a fencing deal."
While Gottenborg has tried different fence strategies on the ranch, he still believes ranchers facing conservation issues need more "tools in their toolbox." He contacted CCALT and PERC to brainstorm ways to help.
"We started talking about a five-year deal, not just a one-year thing, but a five-year agreement where we would alternate grazing on pastures so we could leave some ungrazed during the summer, and where elk then could find good forage in the winter and so forth," Gottenborg said.
Brendan Boepple, the director of conservation for CCALT, explained the nonprofit organization partners with Colorado ranchers to help "protect the landscapes, wildlife habitat, and rural communities that define Colorado."
This being a first-of-its-kind conservation agreement, Boepple explained that it highlights innovative solutions that help support ranching families and conserve working agricultural land.
"Colorado's ranching community has really been for generations of stewards of our lands and our wildlife. There has been at times a conflict between large migrating herds of elk and ranch infrastructure and forage for cattle. This is an opportunity, through an ecosystem service-based approach, to compensate landowners for that public benefit they're creating for wildlife on their properties. We'd really like to see more of these opportunities for the ranching community here in Colorado," Boepple said.
Boepple explained that this new agreement helps ranchers like Gottneborg be compensated for the loss of forage that elk would otherwise consume. Additionally, it would help Eagle Rock Ranch with infrastructure upgrades and wildlife-friendly fences on the property.
Looking towards the future, Gottenborg shared his hopes of other neighbors getting involved and being able to "open up the whole valley for migration, which would be fantastic." Travis Brammer, director of conservation at PERC, shared how this agreement helps set the framework for agricultural productivity and wildlife conservation.
"The idea is that this was the first, not the only, of its kind in Colorado. There are lots of landowners dealing with the costs associated with hosting elk on their land. The idea is to find ways to compensate them first for those costs and incentivize them to take different actions to make it easier for wildlife to migrate through certain areas or access different habitat types," Brammer said.
Neither Gottenborg nor Brammer would reveal the exact pay, but both explained that a significant amount helps with the ranch's lease payments.
"The idea of not sharing it exactly is to avoid that even the perception of competition because the concern that we heard from so many people is that if if conservation groups like PERC are paying at a premium for this leased land. There's no incentive for folks who own land to lease it to agricultural producers anymore, and that is not what we want at all," Brammer explained. "We want agriculture and conservation to be able to work together, and we see this agreement as a really good way to do that."
Despite the challenges of being a first-generation ranching family running a property above 9,000 feet in elevation, the Gottenborgs have a deep appreciation for the land and for the wildlife that roam freely.
"So, they're coming whether we like it or not, might as well make lemonade out of lemons, right? That's what PERC and CCALT has helped us do, so it's just finding and recognizing a problem and finding some folks interested in helping you solve it," Gottenborg said.
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