The 215-acre Schultz Elk and Cattle Ranch, in eastern Montezuma County near Menefee Mountain, will be included in a conservation easement, Montezuma Land Conservancy director Jon Leibowitz said. GOCO granted $50,000 to the project to cover transaction costs for the donation.
“The property has significant water rights and beautiful irrigated land,” Leibowitz said. “It goes into natural habitat as it lifts up toward the mountain.”
The GOCO program helps offset costs of a conservation easement, he said.
Elk are farmed for meat on the ranch, which lies south of U.S. Highway 160 between the road and Menefee Mountain, Liebowitz said. The southern part of the property, on the slope of the mountain, includes natural habitat areas for elk, mountain lions and bears, he said.
No public access is planned for the ranch, which will remain a privately owned and operational ranch.
There are several conservation easements on the north side of the highway along the east and middle forks of the Mancos River. The Schultz ranch easement will complete a link of easements between San Juan National Forest land and the Menefee Mountain Wilderness Study Area, which borders the ranch, Liebowitz said. Bureau of Land Management land also shares a border with the ranch.
“It creates a corridor of conserved space,” Liebowitz said.
The property is listed on Sotheby’s International Realty, at about $2.3 million. It includes a 4,464-square foot main residence, as well as a guest house, barn, storage shop and other outbuildings, according to the Sotheby’s website.