Durango – The Trust for Public Land said Friday that it has sealed a deal to put 622 more acres of high country near Ouray into public ownership.
The trust, a national nonprofit conservation group, altogether has acquired about 8,000 acres in the San Juan Mountains between Ouray, Silverton and Telluride since 2001. The trust plans to acquire as many mining claims as possible in an 11,000-acre triangle of country between the three historic mining towns, said the trust’s Colorado director, Doug Robotham.
The property most recently acquired is made up of more than 70 mining claims at elevations between 8,400 feet and 13,000 feet.
The trust negotiated the purchase of the 622 acres with funds appropriated by Congress from the Land and Water Conservation Funds, various grants, and donations from Idarado Mining Co. and several smaller landowners, Robotham said. The trust then conveyed the assembled claims to the U.S. Forest Service for management as recreation land.
In the next phase of the five-year, $14 million Red Mountain Project, the trust will seek to acquire 700 to 1,000 acres from another 19 property owners in Ouray and San Juan counties, Robotham said.
“As the project progresses, the difficulty and complexity goes up,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell and former Rep. Scott McInnis were instrumental in securing the federal funds for bringing the lands into the public domain, Robotham said.
A group of local citizens and public officials called the Red Mountain Task Force also partnered with the trust.
“I believe the creation of the Red Mountain Historic District, home to century-old artifacts and breathtaking vistas, will turn out to be one of Colorado’s premier preservation projects,” Allard said in a release Friday.
The trust also plans to expand public ownership of land elsewhere along scenic loops of the San Juan Skyway, Robotham said. With a $5.7 million grant last year from Great Outdoors Colorado and other funds, the trust will attempt to acquire more land in the Dolores, Mancos and Ophir valleys as well as parcels around the Ouray Ice Park and Molas Lake near Silverton.
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.