Imagine a swarm of ecologists, birders, soil scientists, climate scientists, teachers and students descending upon a landscape for several days. Toting equipment and personal hydration systems, they peer into magnifying glasses at insects and plants, take soil samples, identify birds, wildlife and water sources, and take photos of everything – all to figure out what lives on that particular corner of the earth. It’s called a “bioblitz.”
In 2016, the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) partnered with five organizations to host a bioblitz on 455 acres in Spring Valley. The land, bordering Colorado Mountain College’s Spring Valley campus to the northeast, has been in the Powers family for more than five decades. “My father bought it in 1968 and gave it to his three children,” said John Powers, who also owns the 122-acre Rifle Creek Ranch, which was bioblitzed around the same time as the Spring Valley property.
The bioblitz gave Powers an ecological inventory. “They found the Good Neighbor Bladderpod,” he told The Sopris Sun during a tour of the Spring Valley property in early August. According to the Colorado Natural Heritage Foundation, the Good Neighbor or Montrose Bladderpod (Physariavicina) is known to grow only on the Western Slope, specifically in Montrose and Ouray counties and, as of the 2016 Spring Valley bioblitz, in Garfield County. “It’s a globally rare species,” added Powers.
The bioblitz also serves as a baseline. “It tells me that there is a lot of biodiversity here that’s worth preserving,” he said. Preserving land is a priority for Powers. “I guess it’s values-based. Land ownership is simply a lifetime lease,” he explained. “Unfortunately, with property rights, an individual who owns a piece of property for a period of time can change it forever.”
With that in mind, Powers and his family are considering placing the Spring Valley land into a conservation easement. He has no plans for developing it except for maybe a house at some point. “My nephew would like the option to build something,” he explained. Powers is not big on the building idea but, he said, the conservation easement is a family decision.
A big concern for Powers is the threat of the proposed 6,000-acre Spring Valley Ranch development. Georgia-based Storied Development plans 577 housing units (mostly second homes), two golf courses, a private ski hill, 15-20 miles of public trails, a convenience store, fire station and 1,100 acres set aside as wildlife habitat — all within a few miles of the Powers land.
According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the Spring Valley Ranch development is right in the middle of prime elk calving grounds and critical winter and summer range. Construction and other human activity, including hikers, cyclists, domestic dogs and horses, will chase elk and deer out of the area and further fragment an already fragile habitat. Increased fragmentation concentrates ungulates into smaller areas. But with development expanding throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, even those smaller areas are shrinking.
“If they were to do that development up there, it’s going to absolutely disrupt everything for wildlife around here,” said Powers. “That’s one of the reasons why we’re considering a conservation easement — to give wildlife a chance.”
The well on Powers’ land provides clean water at about 88 gallons per minute with the existing pipe. But the Spring Valley Ranch development could change that. Storied Development’s water supply and distribution plan predicts water use for the 577 homes, at buildout, would be roughly 407,000 gallons per day (gpd). Commercial water use could add up to about 34,000 gpd with 329 acre-feet per year for golf course irrigation from April to October. Add to that 500,000 gpd for snowmaking in winter. The wells for the development are deeper than nearby domestic wells.
During the tour of Powers’ land, it was clear that he enjoyed being out on it, driving his Tesla over a bumpy, winding two-track or walking through a field to a pond surrounded by cattails. Not to mention the stunning, 360-degree views. “It’s quiet,” he mused. “There’s no development in sight.” A conservation easement would protect that forever, giving the ecosystem — the animals, the birds and that Good Neighbor Bladderpod — a fighting chance. “This is just one little part of a much bigger picture and that 6,000 acres should be preserved,” said Powers. “You know, it’s a moral choice.”
