San Luis Valley Conservation Area
Landscape showing river flowing through green meadow surrounded by forested mountains
The upper Rio Grande near Creede
Map of a wide alpine valley showing federal ownership of forests and scrubland in highlands surrounding a central area of privately owned land. A national park and several wildlife refuges and private lands subject to conservation easements are depicted. A river flows through it.
The proposed San Luis Valley Conservation Area showing federal, state, and protected land use
Nearest cityAlamosa, Colorado
Coordinates37°44′N 106°02′W / 37.74°N 106.04°W / 37.74; -106.04
EstablishedProposed as of 2012

The San Luis Valley Conservation Area is a proposed "landscape scale"[1] National Conservation Area in south-central Colorado and far northern New Mexico which would be administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

  • The area, comprising the San Luis Valley and the upper basin of the Rio Grande, would become the fifth unit of the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
  • Potential land protection of up to 530,000 acres (210,000 ha) with conservation easements bought from willing sellers.
  • Limited fee-title acquisition of up to 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) to meet management needs of the Alamosa, Baca, and Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuges.
  • Planning for this conservation area is part of developing the comprehensive conservation plan for the refuges in the San Luis Valley.
  • After consideration of public comment on the draft plan a portion of the proposed San Luis Valley Conservation Area that has immediate conservation need and opportunities has been identified. This is the proposed Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area.

The proposal was promoted and strongly supported by Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the Interior in the Obama administration. Secretary Salazar is a Hispanic San Luis Valley native with a ranching background in Conejos County, Colorado.[1]

Public meetings on the draft proposal were held by the Fish and Wildlife Service in May, 2012 in Alamosa, San Luis, and Moffat, Colorado and comments solicited.[2][3]

The draft plan focuses on maintaining wetlands and riparian habitats in the high desert mountain valley. The plan has been criticized by the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, which represents local water users, as limiting the flexibility needed to manage agricultural water use in the San Luis Valley needed to balance the water budget.[4]

The proposed conservation area is defined by the headwaters of the Rio Grande, which begins its nearly 1,900-mile (3,100 km) journey to the Gulf of Mexico in the San Juan Mountains and Sangre de Cristo Range that surround the San Luis Valley. Runoff from mountain snowpack creates wetlands and riparian areas in the midst of what otherwise is a high-mountain desert, providing important habitat for dozens of species of migratory birds and other sensitive or imperiled species. The surrounding sagebrush shrublands and mountains provide homes and migration corridors for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, Canada lynx, and important State game species such as elk and deer.

Conservation easement contracts would specify perpetual protection of habitat for trust species and limits on residential, industrial, or commercial development. Contracts would prohibit alteration of the natural topography, conversion of native grassland to cropland, and drainage or filling of wetlands. When appropriate, easement contracts would prevent the sale of surface water rights or change in water use that would have substantial negative effects on the wildlife value of the property. Easement land would remain in private ownership. Therefore, property tax and invasive plant control would remain the responsibility of the landowner, who also would retain control of public access to the land. Contracts would not restrict grazing on easement land.[5]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Ken Salazar; Dave Showalter (June 6, 2011). "Secretary Salazar ~ America's Great Outdoors". Western Wild Dave Showalter's Conservation Photography Weblog. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2012. RIO GRANDE RIVER CORRIDOR/SAN LUIS VALLEY The second America's Great Outdoors project we are announcing today seeks to conserve and protect the Rio Grande River Corridor and the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in the San Luis Valley. The San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado – where my family has ranched the same land for 150 years – is a very special place. It is framed by the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and the San Juan Mountains to the west. It is carved by many rivers, including the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Like the Yampa River Basin project, the San Luis Valley project will seek to build upon local efforts to conserve the Valley's vibrant ranching community and protect important wildlife resources and wetland habitat on a landscape scale. Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service is already in the early stages of studying a new San Luis Valley Conservation Area in southern Colorado. This is a community-based effort that will use the agency's time-tested and highly-effective voluntary conservation easement program. This approach is a "win-win" proposition that embodies the President's vision for 21st century conservation. It is already producing strong results in places such as the Blackfoot Valley and Rocky Mountain Front of Montana, the Flint Hills of Kansas, the grasslands of the Dakotas and the headwaters of the Everglades in Florida. The Governor and I believe that the San Luis Valley project presents an unparalleled opportunity to align federal and state investment with private efforts in order to achieve truly landscape scale outcomes.
  2. ↑ Ruth Heide (May 16, 2012). "FWS seeks plan comments". Valley Courier. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  3. ↑ "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Takes Initial Steps Forward in Partnerships for Working Landscapes in the San Luis Valley Public Meetings Scheduled on Draft Land Protection Plan (LPP)" (News Release). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. May 8, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  4. ↑ Matt Hildner (June 16, 2012). "Proposal doesn't hold water: Or so say opponents to SLV easements". The Pueblo Chieftain. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  5. ↑ Original content of the article was copied from the description of the project at "Land Protection Plan Proposed San Luis Valley Conservation Area Colorado and New Mexico" which is work in the public domain as a product of an employee of the U.S. government done in the course of their employment.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

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