Routt County commissioners have unanimously approved allocating $3 million from the county’s Purchase of Development Rights Open Space Fund for acquisition of a conservation easement on Nottingham Ranch, permanently protecting one of Northwest Colorado’s largest intact working ranches. 

The move, made official at the commissioners’ Tuesday regular meeting, amounts to a cost-per-acre of $350 and ensures the conservation of roughly 17,300 acres of land across Routt and Eagle counties, including over 8,300 acres in Routt County.

Purchase of Development Rights Advisory Board Vice Chair Tim Wohlgenant told the commissioners that the board voted unanimously to recommend approval, describing it as “one of the largest and most significant conservation projects” the program has considered in its nearly 30-year history. 

Nottingham Ranch, which produces around 3,000 tons of hay per year, operates as a highly efficient agricultural business, composed of over 45,000 acres of deeded lands, leased public lands and grazing allotments, according to a county staff report. 

The ranch — considered a crucial enterprise in the region’s agricultural economy — supports around 1,200 cow-calf pairs and is backed by senior water rights dating to the late 19th century. 

The conservation easement, said county staff, will prevent future fragmentation and development while protecting productive agricultural lands, key water resources, critical wildlife habitat, migration corridors, riparian areas and the emblematic open-space landscapes of South Routt County. 

Wohlgenant clarified that no county funds would be used for transaction costs and that all recommended funding would go directly into the easement purchase. 

The Nottingham family has ranching roots in Colorado going back as far as the 1800s. Susan Nottingham and her parents launched the current operation in the Burns area in 1982. 

In the four decades since, she has assembled, expanded and stewarded the ranch into a landscape-scale operation that stands as a bedrock of the local ranching community. 

Today, Nottingham Ranch connects conserved private lands with nearby public lands, supporting local agricultural traditions and helping ensure that the region’s rural character and working ranch heritage will be maintained for generations to come. 

Molly Fales, staff attorney with the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, thanked Routt County officials for their support of the project, noting that of the many funders for this project, Routt County was the first. 

“That was hugely helpful to kick off what has been a massive fundraising effort,” said Fales, who added that the county’s contribution through the Purchase of Development Rights Program is equivalent to 30% of the Routt County portion’s value, and 9.1% of the overall value. 

In addition to Routt and Eagle counties, other funders for the project include the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and two “silent partners,” Fales said. 

Advisory Board Member CJ Mucklow called Nottingham Ranch “one of the most iconic projects” the board has ever funded. He said the funding decision epitomizes why the program was created in the first place. 

The Purchase of Development Rights Program — initially approved by Routt County voters in 1996 and renewed by voters in 2005 with increased funding through 2025 — creates a land protection tool in which a property’s development rights are purchased from willing landowners, with the aim of protecting vital open lands. 

In exchange, the landowner grants a perpetual conservation easement, or deed restriction on the property, thus permanently protecting the land from development. While the land may be sold or transferred, the deed restriction remains firm.

Funding for the program comes from a 1.5 mill increase in county property taxes approved by voters in 2005 and lasting through 2026, according to the county’s webpage. The program provides only a portion of the total funding needed to complete the transaction, with the landowner donating, on average, roughly 50% of the easement’s value.

Nottingham said at the meeting that while she has many people to thank, her biggest thanks goes toward her parents. 

“They’re the ones that took 64 years of their married life and put this all together, and it’s because they loved their family and they loved the land,” she said. 

“I just could not see letting it go to ruin to somebody dividing it up and selling the water and not keeping it as it is,” Nottingham added, “and loving it as I love it — and as they loved it.”