Imagine going to work at the foot of a mountain range. Your sip your morning coffee while watching some bison graze in the distance. You spend your lunch break with the horses. For a lot of us, it's the stuff daydreams are made of. But for the folks at Ranchlands and the ranchers they work with, it's an everyday reality.
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Ranchlands is a Colorado ranching and land management company, which helps care for over 300,000 acres of land across the west. Western ranches are some of the most breathtakingly beautiful pieces of land in the country. But they're also businesses and livelihoods for those that live and work on them. So when a rancher wants to maintain or increase profits while still making land conservation a priority, they turn to Ranchlands.
Where the Pronghorn Roam
Ranchlands offers conservation-based land management to large scale ranches, using livestock to manipulate the soil. Using customized, planned grazing techniques for each ranch, the company works to create the best conservation plan for specific ecosystems. The company also partners with conservation organizations such as the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and The Nature Conservancy.
Last year, Ranchlands helped track Colorado pronghorn, the fastest land animal on the continent. While Colorado has a large pronghorn population, state biologists knew very little about the species. The company teamed up with area landowners to capture and radio-collar 44 pronghorn for study.
It's all part of a day's work in Colorado ranch management and if the company's official Instagram is any indication, you really can't beat the office.
Ranchlands manages 2,000 head of bison on a 50,000 acre pasture on the Medano Zapata Ranch. A separate herd is managed with a monitored grazing program.
Ranchlands has managed the Medano Zapata Ranch since 2004. Owned by The Nature Conservancy and the Great Sand Dunes National Park, the ranch offers a 17 bedroom lodge, guided fishing expeditions, nature hikes and workshops for visitors.
The company also manages the state-owned, 87,000-acre Chiso Basin Ranch.
