Douglas County realized its 10-year vision of a 33,000-acre open
space buffer between Denver and Colorado Springs with the Dec. 19,
2003, acquisition of True Mountain.
The 577-acre parcel is just east of Interstate 25 and just north
of the El Paso County border.
The county and Great Outdoors Colorado purchased the property
with a conservation easement of $1.6 million, a GOCO press release
said. The county contributed $1 million from its open space sales
tax revenue, and GOCO pitched in the $600,000 remainder from
Colorado Lottery revenue.
The easement was purchased from the Colorado Baptist General
Convention.
The True Mountain property is the last major acquisition of an
effort begun in 1994 to protect 33,000 acres of blufflands along
I-25 in the south part of the county.
It was one of the six top priority properties under the original
conservation plan, says an Aug. 20, 2003, letter from The
Conservation Fund to GOCO.
Other major properties acquired over the last 10 years include
the massive Greenland Ranch, the JA Ranch, the Allis property, the
Christensen property, Douglas Heights, the Eberle property, and
Spruce Mountain.
Protection of this huge tapestry of contiguous properties was
accomplished through a wide array of partnerships between public
and private entities and conservation groups, says an Aug. 19, 2003
letter to GOCO from the Douglas County Conservancy.
Along with the county, The Conservation Fund, The Nature
Conservancy of Colorado, and the Douglas Land Conservancy all lent
helping hands to the process of acquiring the easement for True
Mountain and will all have a hand in its future
protection.
Acquiring True Mountain is a victory for conservationists after
pressure began to mount on the Baptist convention to sell the
property for development, GOCO said.
As adjacent properties gained open space or protected status,
the True Mountain property took on higher value, the release
said.
Also, its proximity to housing developments just over the El
Paso County line added to the pressure. “Many developers have
approached the landowners in recent years,” GOCO said in its
release.
The property includes all of the True Mountain summit, most of
its flanks, and the northeast half of Bald Mountain.
The summit of True Mountain is home to one of the best-preserved
examples of a Parry’s oatgrass meadow in the world, says an Aug.
20, 2003 letter to GOCO from The Nature Conservancy of
Colorado.
The Douglas Land Conservancy letter claims this is one of only
20 places in the world where this wild grass remains.
“The only known occurrences of this grassland type on the Front
Range prairie-foothills ecotone are on isolated mesa tops and this
site contains one of the largest, highest quality occurrences,” The
Nature Conservancy letter says.
True Mountain is also a likely part of the range of a small herd
of bighorn sheep, said former and present Colorado Division of
Wildlife biologists.
The herd is made up of about 20 animals and ranges throughout
the Greenland Ranch and JA Ranch properties to the north, the
biologists said.
The open grasslands and cliff walls at the top of the True
Mountain and Bald Mountain mesas make the area ideal bighorn
habitat, they said.
The herd is one of only two in Colorado living east of I-25, the
biologists said.
Along with the bighorns, many other species find the new open
space ideal habitat.
The property is home to stands of aspen, ponderosa pine, Douglas
fir, Gambel’s oak and native shrublands.
And it is critical habitat for bears, elk, mountain lions,
bobcats, deer and prairie falcons, GOCO says.