Field Notes

View of the Mesa Verde National Park escarpment from the Boren conservation easement in Montezuma County, Colorado.

View of the Mesa Verde escarpment from the Boren easement.

January 26, 2024

Boren Conservation Easement Completed

On Friday, January 26, 2024, in partnership with local landowner Josh Boren, MLC completed a new conservation easement permanently protecting 1,760 acres of land on the northwest boundary of Mesa Verde National Park, south of Highway 160. The Boren project builds upon the August 2023 completion of the Hensley Conservation Easement in the same area, continuing our multi-year effort to permanently conserve this critical landscape visited by over 600,000 park visitors annually. Mr. Boren chose to conserve his property to protect the big game habitat, agricultural and scenic open space values. As a working ranch, this land will continue to be managed for agricultural use and stewarded for seasonal grazing.

“I reached out to Montezuma Land Conservancy because it was important to me to keep such a beautiful and special place how nature intended. To preserve such important habitat for the wildlife and keep with the traditional uses of these lands which provide essential wintering grounds for many native species,” Mr. Boren commented. “I’m proud to know with their help, I’m doing my part.”

In addition to Mr. Boren’s efforts, this project was made possible thanks to grant funding received from Keep it Colorado and the Gates Family Foundation. MLC is incredibly honored to work with landowners and community partners to protect the landscapes we all love and cherish in Southwest Colorado.

With the addition of this latest easement, MLC now has permanently protected well over 49,000 acres of land in Southwest Colorado.