President Larry Carnahan described the recent announcement that
John and Bea Lowell have formed the Lowell Family Foundation so
they can leave their 175-acre ranch to the 4-H youth in and around
Douglas County.
By By: Sharon Chapman
“The biggest thing ever done for 4-H in this county” is how
Douglas County 4-H Foundation
President Larry Carnahan described the recent announcement that
John and Bea Lowell have formed the Lowell Family Foundation so
they can leave their 175-acre ranch to the 4-H youth in and around
Douglas County.
The Lowells, whose family has owned the ranch since about 1902,
have been heavily involved with 4-H their whole lives. Both were
4-H members as children and later served as leaders of the
organization – John for 10 and Bea for 35 years.
“As Douglas County continues to grow, there are more and more
kids interested in 4-H, but less and less agricultural land
available for raising animals,” John Lowell said.
Through the foundation, the Lowells hope to keep the ranch open
to the 4-H youth forever. Youngsters who have an interest in
livestock, but no place to keep it, can raise their animals at the
ranch.
They also envision a working ranch where 4-H youth can learn
many aspects of ranch work, including weed control, irrigation,
animal husbandry and farming.
John and Bea Lowell, who are in their 70s, still raise sheep on
their ranch east of Interstate 25 and south of Castle Rock. John’s
father, Henry, built the main house in the early 1900s, and John
was born there in 1924.
The couple, who married soon after attending Douglas County High
School together, have lived there since 1944, seeing the property
through the devastating flood of 1965.
“Every tree along Plum Creek was uprooted,” John said, “and a
troop of Boy Scouts from Lowry camped here to help us plant 2000
trees afterwards.”
Their strong ties to the property made them determined to
preserve it as a farm.
“We did not want it turned into blocks and blocks of houses,”
Bea Lowell said. “We had worked hard to keep it in agriculture. The
partnership with Douglas County 4-H seemed like the perfect
solution. Our vision is to see this land remain as a functioning
ranch in the field of agriculture, but with a focus on youth
participation.”
The gift, Carnahan said, is “amazing.”
The ranch, once 3,200 acres that straddled I-25, was gradually
sold to other ranchers and land developers so that now it consists
of the 175 acres between I-25 and the northbound tracks of the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, including a stretch of Plum
Creek with water rights dating back to the 1800s.
The Lowells have endowed The Lowell Family Foundation with some
of the proceeds of those land sales so the expense of running “The
Lowell Ranch on Plum Creek” should be covered forever, they
said.
The ranch boasts several historic structures, including a log
cabin used by homesteaders and a large barn. Other buildings
include two homes, two garages and a root cellar.
Additionally, one of the historic barns from the old Douglas
County Fairgrounds is slated to be moved there for continued
preservation.
The Lowells have set aside funds to restore the historic
buildings, to build some new livestock facilities, and hire a
full-time director for the foundation. The foundation will be
managed by a seven-member board of directors chosen by the Douglas
County 4-H Foundation, a group that the Lowells were instrumental
in founding, which acts to promote 4-H in Douglas County.
Because of pending legal agreements, the Lowells are reluctant
to put a value on the ranch and the endowment, but John Lowell said
the gift is “in the millions.”
The acreage alone is valued at a “minimum of $700,000,” said
Realtor Wayne Harlos of the Harlos Group at Metro Brokers Inc. in
Castle Rock.
The Lowells, though, are happy to look beyond the financial
aspects of what they have contributed to Douglas County.
“The value we perceive is the change it can make in the lives of
our youth,” said Bea Lowell. “We see this as a gift to the future
of agriculture and Douglas County youth, hand in hand.”