Nonprofit under contract to purchase land near Ironton Park
Another cluster of mining claims on Red Mountain Pass will be preserved for the public and protected from further development.
The Trust for Land Restoration, a Ridgway-based nonprofit organization, is under contract to purchase the Silver Mountain Mine, which encompasses 104 acres of mining claims along the southwestern slope of Brown Mountain near Ironton Park.
The purchase comes after more than 20 years of trying to strike a deal with the former property owners as part of the original Red Mountain Project — a collaborative effort led by Ouray resident Bob Risch to acquire and protect around 10,500 of historic mining and recreation areas along Red Mountain Pass. By 2006, the project successfully reached agreements with private landowners and mining companies to acquire around 9,000 acres of land in the project area. This left a remaining 1,500 acres in the project area in the hands of private owners, including the Silver Mountain Mine, owned by two brothers whose grand- parents had worked in the area. Over time, The Trust for Land Restoration succeeded in acquiring chunks of the remaining project area.
After the brothers pulled out of a deal with the land trust to sell the mining claims for around $275,000, they listed the land for arond $1 million, keeping the sale out of reach for the nonprofit until now. After the brothers died, their heirs agreed to sell the mining claims to the land trust for $400,000. The total project is expected to cost around $580,000. The land trust has raised $315,000 for the project so far and is piecing together the remaining funding, including applying for a $200,000 Great Outdoors Colorado grant and requesting Ouray County contribute $10,000.
“We’re sitting on the evolution of 20 years of work that started with Bob Risch,” Executive Director of the Trust for Land Restoration Pat Willits said during an Aug. 20 commissioners’ work session on the topic. “I’m delighted every time (an acquisition) happens,” Risch told the Plaindealer. “It’s real cool that it’s going to be public now,” he said. The nonprofit plans to conduct environmental studies, rehabilitate the area and create a conservation easement before donating the land to the county.
The acquisition will add to the county’s collection of 15 mining claims and three historic sites in the Ironton area.
The property and purchase
The combined property, accessible via County Road 20, includes recreational areas and historic mining features such as outhouses and drainage passages. It’s almost entirely surrounded by U.S. Forest Service land. Willits said conserving the cluster of properties will prevent further development in the high-alpine area,\ which is home to freshwater springs and threatened species habitat.
“One of the things we’re accomplishing here is eliminating the threat that someday some backcountry ski lodge or somebody’s cabin or more would be built up there, lights visible from two thirds of the Ironton Valley,” Willits said. He said a smaller-scale preservation project like this one wouldn’t necessarily be a priority in some other areas of the state. “But 104 acres surrounded by mostly national forest, the benefit is multiplied by a dozen times or more,” Willits said.
What’s next With the commissioners’ blessing, the land trust will move ahead with an environmental assessment of the property this fall. It plans to hire a contractor to perform an “expanded” phase one environmental assessment which will be slightly beyond the most basic study under Environmental Protection Agency standards. The study will be ensure the county is protected from any future liabilities associated with mining waste under federal law once it acquires the property. The land trust also plans to partner with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to develop strategies for rehabilitating the environment. Creating a conservation easement is the final step before looking to transfer the property to the county.
“I was relieved to see that there was some progress being made towards conservation easements, because when we acquire a larger property — our current board is very conservation minded — but I’m sure, as you’re aware, in other counties, the future board can say, ‘Well, let’s just liquidate it and sell it to the highest bidder,’” County Attorney Leo Caselli said during the Aug. 20 work session.
Commissioners agreed to draft a letter of support for the land trust’s application for a Great Outdoors Colorado grant for $200,000. They will consider the land trust’s request for $10,000 this fall. Lia Salvatierra is a journalist with Report for America, a service program that helps boost underserved areas with more reporting resources.
By Lia Salvatierra
lia@ouraynews.com