{"id":24672,"date":"2024-11-26T17:22:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T00:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-easement-protects-over-300-acres-on-dolores-river\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:58:14","slug":"new-easement-protects-over-300-acres-on-dolores-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-easement-protects-over-300-acres-on-dolores-river\/","title":{"rendered":"New easement protects over 300 acres on Dolores River"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Dolores River on a sunny day. This is part of the 2 miles of river corridor now protected by an easement with a private landowner and the Montezuma Land Conservancy. (Photo courtesy Austin Easter.)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A 302-acre property along the West Fork of the Dolores River is permanently protected from development as of Nov. 22.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a private inholding that\u2019s surrounded by U.S. Forest Service land, with over 2 miles of river corridor flowing through it. It\u2019s located north of the West Dolores Campground.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty dreamy project,\u201d said Austin Easter, the conservation director at the Montezuma Land Conservancy, which is the land trust who partnered with the landowner to make this project happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t find 2 miles along the West Fork of the Dolores River that you can protect every day,\u201d Easter said.<\/p>\n

Five or six years ago, the landowner, who lives in Grand Junction, first reached out to the Montezuma Land Conservancy to learn more about securing an easement on her property, Easter said.<\/p>\n

The pandemic postponed the project, as did her ability to travel down here, and so work on said easement really picked up this year.<\/p>\n

The landowner wanted to make sure the two parcels of land that make up the 302 acres would stick together, and be sold and managed as one forever.<\/p>\n

She also wanted to make sure the land wouldn\u2019t be subdivided into smaller parcels, and so there can only be one structure on the entire property.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Sturdevant easement is a new one between a private landowner and the Montezuma Land Conservancy that protects over 300 acres and 2 miles on the West Fork of the Dolores River. (Photo courtesy Austin Easter)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Easements \u201crestrict development while protecting conservation value,\u201d Easter said.<\/p>\n

Since this project \u2013 called the Sturdevant easement \u2013 includes \u201cvital watershed\u201d that is the Dolores River, its conservation value is high, specifically when considering trout and other wildlife that depend on it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, cattle historically graze this land when they migrate from the high country.<\/p>\n

Easter called this easement \u201crare,\u201d and the Montezuma Land Conservancy echoed that by calling it a \u201conce-in-a-generation project\u201d in a press release.<\/p>\n

Funders agreed.<\/p>\n

Easements cost $90,000 to $120,000, so they applied for grant funding to curb those costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the highest-ranked project in relation to water protection in all of Colorado,\u201d Easter said.<\/p>\n

They got a total of $75,000 from Keep it Colorado, and $50,000 of it came from the Walton Family Foundation\u2019s Colorado River Basin funding.<\/p>\n

That money goes toward what Easter called \u201cdue diligence,\u201d which includes things like appraisals, environmental assessments and stewardship efforts on the land.<\/p>\n

To be clear, the landowner still owns the land, and the Montezuma Land Conservancy will be its steward, ensuring \u201cno buildings are going up\u201d or \u201cdirt bike jumps\u201d are added to the property, Easter said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

And the land will be protected \u2013 sold as one lot with the possibility of only one home on it \u2013 in perpetuity, forever. Even if the Montezuma Land Conservancy went away, another land trust would make sure the easement was enforced.<\/p>\n

The Montezuma Land Conservancy was founded in 1998, it\u2019s protected nearly 50,000 acres of land in Montezuma, Dolores and west San Miguel counties through easements like this one since then.<\/p>\n

Easter said, in addition to this most recent project, there\u2019s an existing 40-acre easement south of Sturdevant.<\/p>\n