A formerly private, sweeping swath of western Colorado is growing a public, red rock wonderland. 

Spanning 4,000-plus acres, Escalante Ranch has been transferred to the Bureau of Land Management and incorporated into Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, The Conservation Fund recently announced. The announcement described the land south of Grand Junction as “encompass(ing) some of Colorado’s most dramatic scenery and important natural resources” — spanning remote, Gunnison River-cut canyonlands of the Uncompahgre Plateau. 

The ranch went up for sale in 2023. And “The Conservation Fund acted quickly to prevent this vital landscape from being subdivided and developed,” the organization recalled in announcing the transfer.

Now the land was publicly available, Colorado Canyons Association posted on its website, while noting about 900 acres would be off-limits under an agricultural lease. The advocacy group similarly celebrated the BLM acquisition as an “incredible conservation win” that “protects miles of canyon, river, wildlife habitat and cultural history while expanding public access to one of the most spectacular landscapes in western Colorado.”

Colorado Canyons Association added: “Public ownership also protects the property from future subdivision or development for residential, commercial or resort uses — something that has occurred along portions of the northern boundary of the conservation area.”

Amid Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area’s surrounding 210,172 acres, Escalante Ranch had been eyed as a vast inholding that “would create a more contiguous landscape and would consolidate land ownership,” the BLM explained in an environmental review finalized in 2024.

At that time, The Conservation Fund was under contract with the ranch’s owner. The organization would sell back to the BLM upon the land manager securing $6.9 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund — key to the $12 million purchase also supported by Great Outdoors Colorado and other granters. 

Escalante Ranch, too, had been eyed among hikers, rock climbers, anglers and boaters familiar with the broader wilds. Colorado Canyons Association sees the acquisition as “improving access to approximately 80,000 acres of adjacent public lands.”

In letters sent to the BLM during its environmental review, The Wilderness Society was among other groups that supported the acquisition as “a tremendous benefit to our shared public lands, for people today and future generations.” Others praised the “magical” nature of the surrounding Escalante Canyon, which “offers unparalleled beauty, wildlife habit, historic treasures and recreational opportunities,” one wrote. Climbers sounded particularly excited about the acquisition, seeing the move as opening up some of the best rock on the Western Slope. 

But others sounded concerned about recreation disrupting wildlife such as desert bighorn sheep and threatening petroglyphs and other archaeological sites. And officials from Mesa and Delta sounded concerned about new ownership disrupting a historic cattle operation and significant economic driver. 

In response, the BLM said it “acknowledges the importance of the agriculture industry” and “recognizes the economic contributions that Escalante Ranch makes to the surrounding community.” The BLM noted the century-old cattle operation supporting 1,400 head in recent years, “representing over 3 percent of the total number of cattle and calves in Delta County.” 

For now under the ongoing lease, irrigation can continue around 900 acres of pasture and hay fields. “Despite the acquisition of the Ranch, agriculture will continue to contribute to economic output, jobs and labor earnings in the region,” the BLM wrote. 

In response to that concern and several others, the BLM emphasized it “would invite robust community engagement, including through cooperating agency and public involvement, in the development of interim and long-term management.” 

Current management “would fall short of the stewardship which makes these parcels so valuable to Colorado’s wildlife,” a Colorado Parks and Wildlife representative wrote to the BLM, going on to say “CPW is uniquely positioned to manage or assist with the management of these interests into the future.” 

In 2024, the BLM published the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area Business Plan that, akin to CPW’s model, envisioned fees at some sites to help pay for maintenance and recreation development. The plan estimated more than 114,000 people visit the national conservation area every year, with increases expected over the next decade.