Within months of Harrison buying the property, a nearly year process of identifying, surveying and certifying original settlers of the ranch concluded, granting access to about 6, parcels of land to nearly 5, descendants of Spanish and Mexican homesteaders who colonized the San Luis Valley before Colorado was a state.
The process was part of the Colorado Supreme Court decision — the second high-court decision in the decades-long range war — that restored historical access to descendants of the homesteaders, who were allowed to harvest timber and firewood for personal use, and graze a limited number of livestock. Harrison bought the ranch from a group of Texas investors, who had purchased the property from disgraced Enron executive Lou Pai, who bought the ranch from a lumber baron named Jack Taylor in the late s.
All three previous owners had spent decades wrangling with locals who cited the historic land grant when seeking access to the ranch. Harrison is continuing that trend.
He has appealed the decision, which could only be challenged after the certification process concluded last fall. Harrison comes from an oil fortune that dates back more than a century. His father, oil and land baron Bruce Harrison, died in a ranching accident in , when William Harrison was In his appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court decision that returned the case to Costilla County District Court, Harrison argues that the heirs of the land grant failed to properly establish and prove their easement rights to access the land.
In an email to The Colorado Sun, Harrison said he has not had a response to a letter he sent in January , explaining that he would suspend the appeal if he could work with the group. He also forwarded an email from his ranch manager , which he posted on the ranch website, cielovistaranchco.
Sent in late May, the manager told his boss that locals have used machinery to build access roads on the ranch and that he has closed 19 illegal access gates to the property, asking that people use existing gates. One neighbor cut a fence and took dirt to build up an area on his property and dug a trench on the ranch to dump trash.
Several miles of fence have been removed and locks have been taken off of gates. Trees are being cut and removed, ATV riders have been caught on the property and anglers have been trespassing, the manager wrote. If Harrison wins, the heirs can appeal again to the Colorado Supreme Court. Cielo Vista contains square miles of diverse topography balanced between four distinct life zone ecosystems:. This life zone offers critical winter habitat for a variety of mammals including elk and mule deer.
Cielo Vista is home to some of the largest aspen stands in the world. This ecosystem provides critical spring, summer, and fall habitat for a variety of large mammals, including elk, mule deer, bear, and mountain lion. Notable small mammals include lynx, bobcat, coyote, red fox, American Marten, and snowshoe hare. This life zone provides critical year-round range for a healthy populations of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, and spring-fall range for a variety of other large mammals, including elk, mule deer, bear, and mountain lion.
Notable small mammals include lynx, ermine, yellow-bellied marmot, and pine marten. Alamosa, Colorado, with commercial air service and all general services including a hospital, hotels, and restaurants, is a 45 minute drive northwest of the ranch. The valley is over miles long and 75 miles wide, and is flanked to the west by the San Juan Mountains and to the east by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The primary land use is grazing and agriculture.
Principle crops include potatoes, barley and alfalfa. The valley provides an important stop for migrating sandhill cranes, occasional whooping cranes, and a variety of other waterfowl. There are several sub-ranges in the Sangres; Cielo Vista lies in the area known as the Culebra Range. Five miles west of the ranch is San Luis — the oldest continuously occupied town in Colorado. On June 21, , Hispanic settlers from the Taos valley built and dedicated a church at the settlement for Louis IX San Luis , a devout catholic and only canonized king of France.
There are two headquarters areas. Both headquarters areas are grid-powered and have backup generators with large-volume fuel storage capable of powering all facilities. The ranch is perimeter fenced on 3 sides as the eastern boundary is the top of the range and does not need a fence and pasture fenced. Improved gravel and two-track roads provide access to much of the property. Cielo Vista Ranch is among the finest elk, deer, and sheep hunting properties in the world. The property is home to thousands of elk and deer, and huntable populations of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep.
These strict management principles have yielded impressive results. Elk: Cielo Vista Ranch offers over 83, acres of ideal elk habitat, and is home to thousands of elk year-round. Archery bull elk tags are available over-the-counter, and the ranch may apply for and secure landowner rifle bull elk tags for all rifle seasons. Deer: Cielo Vista is also home to some giant mule deer. Dig Deeper Land Report Back Issues.
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