I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days in Colorado last week at the High Lonesome Ranch, owned by my friend Paul Vahldiek. Paul is doing something truly unique at his 400-square-mile ranch in the mountains of Colorado. First he amassed a property bigger than Badlands National Park, in beautiful southern Colorado. Next, he started restoring the land back to its natural state by bringing back beavers, clearing out invasive species, and letting predators roam free. At the same time, he's kept High Lonesome as a working ranch. They have 600 head of cattle, they make hay, they farm, they work the land. Traditional ranching life continues, but together with sound environmental principles. And he has created an outdoor adventure paradise - a luxurious dude ranch, hunting, fly fishing, mountain biking, hiking, you can do it all.
And Paul is just getting started. He realized early on that if we are going to preserve the wild lands of the western United States, we need to preserve private lands as well as public lands. Together with Wildlands Network, he founded the Western Landowner's Alliance to do just that. And he's creating a new model at High Lonesome, by setting up a structure where 20 trustee families will create an endowment to preserve the land in perpetuity, while creating a research institute devoted to land conservation.
In his spare time, Paul also owns Deep Water Cay in the Bahamas, the premier bone-fishing destination resort in the world. Oh, and he's working with the local government to create a marine preserve there too. (And he's a great host).
Check out the links to both properties below, along with a few photos of High Lonesome, and more on my Flickr page. And if you want to visit or learn more about either place, email me and I'll introduce you to Paul.
High Lonesome Ranch
Deep Water Cay
Tom's HLR Photos
.jpg) |
| Sunset over one of High Lonesome's valleys |
.jpg) |
| Buck deer along the road at HLR |
.jpg) |
| Lookout Rock at High Lonesome |
.jpg) |
| House at High Lonesome |
