On a bright, brisk spring morning, the Palmer family gathered around the heat of a potbelly stove inside a bunkhouse on their namesake ranch.
The day promised to be warm, and the bright-green of the budding cottonwood leaves heralded the coming of summer, but the temperature in the Florida River valley was still chilly. That made the warmth of the woodfire all the more pleasant, especially for Terry and Dixie Palmer, both of whom are in their 80s and have lived on the ranch for the past 70 years.
The bunkhouse stands in a horseshoe of barns, old tractors and livestock fencing surrounded by verdant pastureland, cottonwood groves and acres of ponderosa and juniper on the ridges bordering both sides of the ranch – including Horse Gulch, which stands between Durango and the Palmers’ property.
Though La Plata County has grown in the past 70 years, the Palmers’ spread likely resembled what it did nearly a century ago. And, since the family entered into a conservation easement with the La Plata Open Space Conservancy earlier this year, the 814-acre property along County Road 234 northeast of Durango will stay that way in perpetuity.
LPOSC Executive Director Jennifer Zahratka has joined Randy, Kelly, Terry and Dixie Palmer on this chilly morning to talk about the easement, which was made official earlier this year.
One of the biggest reasons the family decided to enter a conservation agreement, said Randy Palmer, Terry and Dixie Palmer’s son, was to keep the ranch in their family instead of having to sell as cost of living becomes more expensive.
“The conservation easement really allows this family to continue ranching,” Randy said. “We didn’t have to sell. We have a ranching heritage, and that’s what we wanted to keep.”
Both Terry and Randy grew up working and exploring the ranch. The two share a love for the outdoors, their way of life and the memories they have cultivated on the ranch.
As a kid, Terry would take the family tractor down Horse Gulch, park it just outside Durango city limits, and walk the rest of the way to school. Outside of school, he would rove the surrounding forestland ‒ hunting, fishing and camping.
When Terry's parents bought the ranch, his father originally raised goats, pigs, chickens and cattle. He loved the horses, and when the operation was passed on to him, he started breeding quarter horses. Together, Randy and Terry took control of Over the Hill Outfitters in 1998, and led horse tours and hunting trips for the next 25 years.
In that time, Terry said, Durango has grown, largely because of the change from a mostly mining and agrarian economy to one based around computers.
“What really exploded Durango in population is when the computer world came around,” he said. “People could live here and still work a job somewhere else.”
Randy said that while it’s great to have more people living in and enjoying the area, the need for housing has impacted the land, habitat and ways of life.
“It’s great for the economy. But, you might lose something,” he said.
It has become harder for ranchers like the Palmers to hold onto their properties. Many of the old ranches have been developed into subdivisions, like Three Springs or Edgemont, Randy said.
Zahratka said losing large spreads of agricultural land to development means less wildlife habitat – especially for endangered species. Easements help keep habitat intact, while still being used by the farmers and ranchers who live alongside them.
“You can see and feel the development encroaching, and this property will never get developed,” she said. “It’s such a win for clean water, clean air, fishing, mule deer hunting – you name it. And then this agricultural history in La Plata County that will never go away.”
Easements don’t entirely prohibit building or turn a piece of land into a sort of gigantic time capsule, Zahratka said. Rather, they just prohibit large-scale development.
“Conservation easements don’t mean that land stays as-is and you can never build a house anywhere,” she said. “It just means it might not be a high-density development in areas where there are scenic vistas or real conservation values for wildlife.”
Palmer Ranch has lots of prime habitat for the Preble’s jumping mouse, a species native to Colorado that both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife characterize as endangered.
Zahratka said the easement also safeguards wetlands created by the Florida River, which further benefits fisheries, wildlife and downstream water users and provides a wildfire buffer. She said Colorado Parks and Wildlife supported the easement, and supplied funding from the 2019 Colorado Senate Bill 181, otherwise known as the Oil and Gas Compensation Fund.
Learning to balance growth and preserving historic and scenic places in and around Durango will be important as the area grows.
Additionally, Kelly said, entering into the easement with LPOSC has enabled the family to receive assistance for wildfire mitigation work from the Southwest Conservation Corps.
“We’re very, very interested in reducing fire hazard,” she said. “Most of the acreage, it’s not irrigated. So we’re hoping that by being in a conservation easement and recognized habitat that, you know, people like Jennifer can help us find some sources to do some good work. Definitely don't want it to burn up.”
In addition to preserving habitat and increasing wildfire safety, Kelly said she hopes preserving Palmer Ranch – and therefore the natural beauty and open space of the property – means other people will be able to enjoy it as they have for decades.
“There are a lot of people who drive through here every day that benefit from just their morning and evening commutes,” she said. “Keeping this open space and scenic and beautiful, even that little bit, I think, contributes to quality of life in Durango.”
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
