The San Juan National Forest has acquired 160 acres of mule deer and elk habitat southeast of Pagosa Springs. The parcel located along National Forest Service Road 663 (Buckles Lake Road) was a privately held inholding – meaning it was entirely surrounded by public land – until the sale.
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation facilitated the purchase by the forest from the Saunders family of Albuquerque. The SJNF paid $1.1 million for the property using funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
The undeveloped property will be open to the public for nonmotorized use. It also falls within a migration corridor for deer and elk.
“Now that we have acquired it, obviously it won’t be developed and it’s available for wildlife to essentially be undisturbed, particularly in the wintertime,” said SJNF Lands Program Manager Rebecca Smith.
If a private owner were to purchase and develop the property, not only would a structure interfere with wildlife, but it could warp wildfire management priorities. Private structures tend to be priorities for firefighters.
“Now that that’s not an issue, we don’t have to worry about protecting that piece of land in the middle of a fire-prone landscape,” Smith said. “We can manage it at a larger landscape level in terms of both allowing fire to burn and/or suppressing fire as well. All of (the) management options are available to us.”
Pagosa District Ranger Joshua Peck in a news release said new structures in the wildland interface area are “a real challenge we need to acknowledge.”
The property sits 14 miles southeast of Pagosa Springs and features aspen stands, mountain meadows, scattered ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forests, two ponds, intermittent streams and scenic views of V Rock Mountain.
“This would not have happened without the conservation vision, ethic, and passion of the Saunders family,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO in the release. “We salute and thank them as well as our San Juan National Forest partners for working together to conserve this important landscape.”
rschafir@durangoherald.com
