Hands for Lands
Volunteer Program
The Conservancy's Hands for Lands program connects supporters with volunteer work projects on Central Colorado's agricultural lands.
Each spring, our Hands for Lands volunteer program helps local ranchers and agricultural landowners clean out their ditches in anticipation of the irrigation season. Miles of ditches need to be maintained by trimming overgrown vegetation, raking up debris, clearing tumbleweeds, and removing anything else that has accumulated over the winter and might impede the flow of water once irrigation season starts.
By pitching in with our many hands, we help lighten the workload and support the local ranches and agriculturalists which provide so much to our community including wildlife habitat, scenic vistas, aquifer recharge, and local food. Irrigation is imperative for ranchers and agriculture in our area, and the benefits ripple out from there. Spreading water out across the land creates valuable wetlands and wildlife habitat, recharges aquifers and adds to the green landscape that makes springtime in the valley so beautiful!
Benefits to being a Hands for Lands volunteer include:
-
Enjoy incredible scenery on beautiful and iconic local ranches.
-
Take part in hands-on conservation efforts.
-
Get some fresh air and exercise.
-
Connect with likeminded members of the community.
-
Give back to ranchers that conserve and protect local lands.
Volunteering is a great way to get your hands dirty and support our local waters, wildlife and rural landscapes.
Register for our Hands for Lands Ditch Cleaning Work Days below. You can also learn more about each property by scrolling to the next section.
Thank you in advance for your willingness to help keep working lands working!
Hands for Lands Spring Ditch Cleaning Work Days
Please click the RSVP button to register for each work day you are interested in!
Ranch Histories
Cooper Property
Boots and Hinton Ditch
Wesley and Keith Cooper, two brothers whose family originally homesteaded near Coaldale, own property along the Arkansas River in Salida. The farmhouse on their property was built over 100 years ago and bought by their parents in 1948. They used to produce alfalfa as a crop and there were a number of neighboring properties that also produced alfalfa. Several adjacent and nearby properties, including where the new Two Rivers development is located, used to be small farms and gardens. The Cooper’s irrigation water is delivered to their property via the Boots and Hinton Ditch, which diverts water from the South Arkansas River and goes through town to their property on Illinois Ave. The Cooper brothers, who are in their 80s, no longer have lands in agricultural production, but cleaning their ditch each spring is an important part of maintaining their water rights. They use the water for the fruit trees and landscaping at their property. While visiting the Cooper Property, you’ll get the feel for Salida’s agricultural heritage and how the town's historical small farms have been surrounded by growth or have disappeared altogether. You will also learn about some of Salida’s history from the Coopers.
Hutchinson Ranch
Del Monte Ditch
The Hutchinson Ranch is a 7th generation family ranch located between Salida and Poncha Springs. This ranch provides incredible values to our community including scenic beauty, deer and elk habitat and opportunities for our children to get out on the land and learn about agriculture through educational programs at the Hutchinson Homestead. The ditch starts all the way up by the disc golf course in Poncha Springs and runs 4 miles to the Hutchinson Ranch. It runs through piñons, as well as two subdivisions and feeds two center pivots that irrigate alfalfa. This family does a lot for our community, and we’re eager to give back!
Kelly Ranch
Cottonwood-Maxwell Ditch
The Kelly Ranch, located south and west of Buena Vista, has been in the Kelly family for five generations. This gorgeous ranch is along Maxwell Creek and has several natural springs and roughly 40 acres of wetlands, providing important habitat. A unique type of wetland called a fen exists on the property. Fens are peat forming wetlands that depend on groundwater inputs. They are excellent water purifiers and the fen on the Kelly Ranch provides nesting habitat for water birds. A large population of lesser bladderwort, a tiny, carnivorous plant thrive in the fen and is considered one of the largest known occurrences of the plant in Colorado.
Dave Kelly is a former water commissioner who understands the ins and outs of water in Chaffee County and also knows the work it takes to irrigate a ranch. He also helped with a local agriculture needs assessment that was conducted to better understand irrigation infrastructure and water rights needs in the Upper Arkansas Watershed. Dave was instrumental in helping the Conservancy create the Hands for Lands program, knowing how helpful this work would be to local ranchers.