Land managers in Colorado’s central mountains are celebrating what they’re calling an unprecedented open space acquisition.
Eagle and Pitkin counties recently finalized their acquisition of Three Meadows Ranch — 4,251 acres sprawling to the west of Cottonwood Pass over the Roaring Fork Valley.
It’s Eagle County’s largest such open space purchase: $12.5 million toward the total $27.7 million funded by three agencies. It’s a historic milestone, too, for Pitkin County, which contributed $7.7 million toward the deal.
Last year, the county praised 650-acre Snowmass Falls Ranch as a “holy grail” of conservation. Three Meadows Ranch is more than six times that size.