The 3,314-acre is located west of the Peak to Peak Highway near Rollinsville in a wide, scenic valley adjacent to the James Peak Wilderness and the Roosevelt National Forest. It is situated at the headwaters of South Boulder Creek, along the railroad line that leads to the Moffat Tunnel, and is considered rich wildlife habitat.
Charles Hanson Toll, who served as Colorado’s third attorney general, purchased the land in 1893 and it remained under the family’s ownership for more than 130 years. Family members agreed to a conservation easement in 2015, essentially giving up development rights, and have now sold it for preservation under state ownership.
Terms of the purchase were not disclosed but the realtor handling the sale, Denver-based Mirr Ranch Group, .
“Whatap extraordinary about Tolland Ranch is, you never find (available) properties east of the Continental Divide that are of this size,” said Justin Spring, The Conservation Fund’s Colorado director. “To find it with sellers who are willing to sell for conservation is just a great match. This property actually touches the James Peak Wilderness, and thatap 17,000 acres. Then you have the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. Itap really adding to that complex of protected land.”
Formed in 1985, The Conservation Fund is a national nonprofit environmental organization that buys at-risk land with high conservation values for the purpose of turning it over to long-term ownership dedicated to environmental preservation. comes at a time when wildlife along the Front Range is under heavy pressure due to development.
“Habitat loss and climate change are the two biggest threats to wildlife in Colorado,” said Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose. “With growing development pushing wildlife into spaces that they have not been before, and maybe they’re not comfortable with, you lose that safety for them and you lose the connectivity of migration corridors and where they spend calving seasons.
“When you have this piece of property that elk are already living on — they already calve, they already travel through — and you’re able to preserve it so no development will ever happen on it, thatap a really big deal,” she added.
The property includes 3.5 miles along South Boulder Creek, 16 ponds and a lake that Parks and Wildlife is eyeing for fisheries and fishing opportunities. It is critical habitat for elk, deer and moose, with species including blue grouse, snowshoe hares, red foxes and varieties of waterfowl.
The north end of the property encompasses cross-country ski trails operated by the Eldora Nordic Center, which it has been leasing from the Toll family.
“We saw this, with CPW, as an opportunity to take a private property and make it a public amenity — open up new public access for fishing, hunting, securing the ongoing opportunity to have Nordic skiing on the Eldora trails,” Spring said.
Henry “Wolky” Toll, great-grandson of Charles Hanson Toll, said the family’s conservation values can be traced back to his 19th-century ancestors. He vividly recalls a trip he took over Vail Pass with his father many years ago, prior to Vail becoming a resort town.
“He knew something was going to happen there,” Toll recalled. “I still have in my mind looking out and seeing one barn. Then you go back through Vail, and all that other stuff through the Eagle Valley — I would be so hurt to see that happen at Tolland.”
Parks and Wildlife officials say the property will be managed primarily for the benefit of wildlife and will not become a state park. The agency manages about 350 state wildlife areas around Colorado.
“A state wildlife area is property that is set aside specifically for hunters, anglers and wildlife-viewing opportunities,” Van Hoose said. “Itap very different from a state park. With a state park, you have a visitor center, an entrance station and hiking trails. A state wildlife area doesn’t have any of that. Itap just land. There are no set trails, and you have to have a state wildlife area pass (to enter).”
Tolland Ranch won’t be entirely off-limits for recreation, however.
“Itap a little bit of a different management than we’ve had before, because it does have a mountain bike trail that is already there, and it does have those Nordic ski trails (at Eldora) that are already there,” Van Hoose said. “Thatap different from other state wildlife areas. Those opportunities will remain, but we are not going to be building any hiking trails.”
Gov. Jared Polis called the property “a beautiful gem,” adding that the acquisition will increase public access to the area.
“The existing bike trail access will continue, but itap a great place for fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing,” Polis said in an interview. “We have everything from state parks, which are a much more manicured experience, to wildlife areas like Tolland Ranch — kind of wide open for people to enjoy in very close to a natural state in perpetuity. A lot of people want that more natural experience, and we want to do our best to provide that to Coloradans.”
Jason Duetsch, area wildlife manager for Parks and Wildlife, said it will take some time for the agency to develop a management plan for the area. Elements of it will include rules regarding hunting and fishing, as well as the possibility of creating fisheries in the valley’s ponds.
“The hunting and wildlife habitat is huge,” Duetsch said. “Elk, deer, the fishery component, itap just super special. Itap a gorgeous landscape and it is used by a lot of different species. Itap not going to be a property that we’re looking at to try and get as many people on it as we can. Itap going to be, ‘How can we make this best for wildlife, and how can we make sure there is a customer component they can enjoy as well?'”
Parks and Wildlife hopes to open the property for hunting and fishing opportunities in the fall.
“The Toll family has been great partners, first with the conservation easement that already exists on the property, but now a partner in ensuring that itap preserved,” Polis said. “And that (public) access is a key piece of that.”
