Encantada Ranch — Del Norte, CO

Encantada translates to "Enchanted" - a perfect word to describe such a special conserved ranch just outside of Del Norte along the north and south channels of the Rio Grande. Tall cottonwoods and dense willows line the river banks, and lush hay meadows span the open spaces of the 388-acre Encantada Ranch. Shared by the same two ranching families, the Davies and the Colvilles, for over 45 years, conserving the Encantada Ranch supports family agriculture, protects a significant section of the Rio Grande and provides extraordinary habitat for deer, elk, ducks, bald eagles, and numerous migratory birds.

La Encantada is one of our most recent Rio Grande Initiative projects. Between 2007 and 2020, RiGHT and partners conserved over 25,000 acres of riverlands along the Rio Grande and its tributaries, achieving landscape-scale conservation at the headwaters of one of the West’s most iconic rivers.