Ken Salazar’s Conservation “Crown Jewel” Nearing Completion

The Markus Ranch (elevation 9,000’) rests at the foot of Pikes Peak, the inspiration for Katherine Lee Bates’ America the Beautiful.  The ranch is the last unprotected property in the Pikes Peak Conservation Corridor (PPCC), a 6,500-acre block of ecologically sensitive public and private lands that frame the north slope of ‘America’s Mountain’ between Woodland Park and Divide, Colorado.  After touring the PPCC in 2002, Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar (now Secretary of the Interior) noted that the area is “one of the crown jewels” of open space preservation in the state.  A Palmer lead initiative to protect the Markus Ranch was recently awarded a $303,000 grant from Great Outdoors Colorado.

Approximately 5,500 acres of the PPCC have been placed under conservation easement through the combined efforts of spirited ranchers, non-profit organizations, local and county officials, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW), Great Outdoors Colorado, and the Palmer Land Trust.  Palmer holds easements on over 4,000 of the 5,500 acres.

The Markus Ranch provides a pastoral setting for dramatic, sweeping views of Pikes Peak from US Highway 24.  Highway 24 is the major east-west transportation corridor serving metropolitan Colorado Springs.  The property lies adjacent to a DOW High Priority Habitat-Acquisition Area and has long been the target of a conservation easement by the Pikes Peak Multi-Use Plan, a document commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service and Colorado Springs Utilities in 1999 that aims to protect critical water and wildlife resources.

Conservation of the Markus Ranch will conclude the PPCC project and contribute to a landscape level conservation effort.  The PPCC is not an isolated block of protected lands; it is contiguous to the Pike National Forest and the 12,000-acre Mueller State Park and Dome Rock State Wildlife Area.  The Mueller Ranch (now known as Mueller State Park and Dome Rock State Wildlife Area) was purchased by The Nature Conservancy in 1979 and remains one of Colorado’s signature conservation projects.  Land protection efforts around Mueller State Park & Dome Rock have continued since that time, despite intense subdivision pressure in Teller County.  The Markus Ranch would be one of the larger ranches protected in this area.  If successful, it will mean that the 12,000-acre protected area established by The Nature Conservancy’s purchase of the Mueller Ranch will grow to approximately 20,000 protected acres in 2009—on the 30th anniversary of the project.

The PPCC, including the Markus Ranch, is important to wildlife populations for many reasons.  Two are fundamental.  First, the property hosts a large, resident elk population, preserving a critical migration corridor and calving area.  Second, the block of land forms a portion of two major headwaters: those of the South Platte and Arkansas rivers.  Many creeks that eventually pour into the South Platte and Arkansas rivers have their origins in the PPCC.  The South Platte and Arkansas are rivers of local, state, and national significance, and both river basins can actually be found on the Markus Ranch.  The greenback cutthroat trout, a federally threatened species, is found primarily within the foothills of these two river systems, adding to the significance of this project.