This is a great sign, unless you are a conservationist, as the economy is doing well and the Ranchers are getting a great payout on their properties in Aspen. The opportunity to own land that appreciates greatly so that your family will have security for the future is a wonderful blessing and a reward for all of the hard work that the Rancher put in. Some will call it being pushed out, but I would refer to it as the ranchers cashing out and moving to new pastures.

Of course there are those that demand the land be conserved in its natural state, and that is not a bad thing. The only demand that the community needs to fulfill is that they purchase the land at market prices. If eminent domain is used to pay the ranchers less than market prices, that is stealing and I hope that the community will not stand for that.

More than 11,000 acres of ranchland sold in the valley in the last year, and most of that land sold to development firms, according to Martha Cochran, director of the Aspen Valley Land Trust, a leading conservation organization.

“The core of the ranching community is getting pushed out,” said Cochran, whose group is battling to preserve some of the last remaining large tracts on the valley floor.

The ongoing real estate frenzy that shattered sales volume records for the past two years and is on a record pace this year is also giving the valley a facelift by urbanizing the remaining rural corners. Cochran said only a handful of ranches larger than 1,000 acres remain between Aspen and Glenwood Springs.

“It’s gone. Other than Capitol Creek, it’s gone,” she said. via Aspen Times News

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