Saving soil with AVLT
Founded in 1967, Aspen Valley Land Trust (AVLT) is a local, nonprofit land trust dedicated to protecting special places and open spaces. It serves a region stretching from the Roaring Fork and Middle Colorado River valleys from the top of Independence Pass and out west to De Beque. Through conservation easements on private land, the organization has helped preserve more than 70 square miles of landscape, including 104 miles of river frontage, 33 miles of trails and parks and thousands of acres of wildlife habitat and working agricultural land.
AVLT complements the work of other Valley conservation advocacy organizations, including Pitkin County Open Space and Wilderness Workshop. With more than 200 conservation easements, AVLT is responsible for ensuring these properties are properly stewarded and that their conservation value is protected. Even if the land is sold or transferred, the easement remains in place in perpetuity.
AVLT raised $5.8 million in a capital campaign to purchase Coffman Ranch in 2021. Pitkin County holds the conservation easement on behalf of AVLT for this “ambassador property.” The historic 141-acre homesteading ranch sits along the banks of the Roaring Fork River on Catherine’s Store Road. Located just two miles east of Carbondale, the working ranch was identified by AVLT as an ideal place to advance its new direction, expanding public access to land and supporting schoolchildren’s connection to the natural environment.
For AVLT, the ranch represents more than a single land purchase. Torrey Udall, deputy director, told The Sun, “Our vision for the property reflects many of the pressures we face in the Valley, including development, habitat fragmentation, climate, water, housing and food insecurity.” He added, “One pressing need is for schools and families to have nature-based learning and quality time opportunities.”
AVLT is already restoring the land for the next generation. Regenerative agriculture is central to AVLT’s land management and organic ranching practices. Over the past three years, the organization eliminated the synthetic fertilizers the ranch relied on for decades, improved irrigation and water flow and adjusted grazing systems, resulting in a strong recovery of native vegetation. The community benefits are clear: limiting large-scale development while keeping working lands in production supports both the local environment and the Valley’s agricultural heritage.
Brian Hightower, Coffman Ranch manager for AVLT, said the foundation of ranching begins with the soil itself. “There’s a symbiotic relationship between a diversity of plant matter and a diversity of biology in the soil. The soil is the most important thing, not only for growing plants, but also for supporting all of the other living creatures on the ranch, including livestock, wildlife and birdlife. I think all ranchers are soil farmers, then grass farmers, and somewhere down the road, livestock farmers.”
The biology of the soil helps explain why this approach matters. The historic practice of tilling the land is giving way to methods that preserve cover crops, which shield the soil from heat and evaporation. Bugs, worms, nematodes and other organisms that naturally occur in the soil all contribute to a healthier ecosystem. The more diverse the soil profile, the more it supports plant diversity, and that benefit carries all the way up the food chain.
At Coffman Ranch, AVLT interseeds legumes that fix nitrogen and support perennial grasses. Alfalfa is limited because cows gorge on it to the point of bloat. Brassicas, turnips, radishes and other taproot plants are especially beneficial because they naturally penetrate and aerate the soil.
Hightower said, “When we are talking about cover crops, especially for pasture, you don’t want there to be bare soil, because the biology of your soil cooks off and you lose your microbes and you lose the functionality of that soil ecosystem.”
Cattle can also help develop cover crops by pressing grasses into the soil as they graze. AVLT keeps the cattle moving, allowing them to graze grass only down to a height of four inches. This practice mimics the movement of ungulate herds that once traveled constantly to avoid predators and helps ensure that the roots of cover crops remain healthy.
“Our grazing lease cows come in the first of June and graze until they’ve had their fill, while we measure the forage that remains standing. Last year, 220 pairs came in and grazed for only nine days. They came back in the fall,” Hightower said.
AVLT ultimately hopes Coffman Ranch will emulate the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies’ Rock Bottom Ranch by creating future opportunities to strengthen local food systems, including a native plant nursery and a vegetable garden. Downvalley schools are also seeking more easily accessible outdoor education opportunities.
For Udall, the ranch is part of a larger vision of community-centered conservation. Udall said AVLT increasingly sees education and access as core to its mission, “We need dozens of Rock Bottom Ranches throughout this entire region, and it is really inspired by the success they have had and validation from the community saying, ‘Yeah, we want more of this.’”
Coffman Ranch offers hands-on learning opportunities that help children and families understand how ranching, soil health, food systems and ecosystems are all interconnected. Visitors can see animals at work, explore soil conditions, learn about pollinators and native plants and experience food production in a direct, sensory way. AVLT envisions the ranch as an outdoor classroom that helps people build a stronger connection to the land, understand how healthy ecosystems function and to develop a deeper commitment to protecting the Roaring Fork Valley and similar landscapes throughout Colorado.
For more information, visit www.avlt.org