One of RiGHT’s priorities as the community land trust in the San Luis Valley is to support our landowners reaching their management goals while also enhancing the conservation values of their properties. The San Juan Ranch is soon to be a newly conserved property with the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust and contains 353 acres of seasonally flooded wet meadows and playa-like wetland habitat. Working with landowners George Whitten and Julie Sullivan, RiGHT developed a project proposal to enhance the wetland habitat on their property while also improving their irrigation efficiency and ultimately their grass-fed cattle operation.

In 2022 RiGHT received funding from the North American Wetland Conservation Act to complete a wetland enhancement project on the San Juan Ranch. This project involves installing irrigation structures and repairing damaged ditch systems, installing solar wells to create stock watering areas, installing fencing to facilitate rotation grazing practices, and replacing old woven wire fence with wildlife friending fence. All of these project components will support the San Juan Ranch in improving their cattle production infrastructure and will also enhance the wetland habitats on the property. Overflow water from the stock tanks will be piped to wetland slough areas that will be fenced to protect from livestock damage. New fencing will exclude sensitive wetland areas and nesting habitat for waterfowl. And wildlife friendly fence will allow wildlife to move throughout the property without injury.

It is especially important to complete projects like this in the Saguache Creek drainage. This area provides habitat for Greater Sandhill Crane, American Bittern, Mallard, Pintail, Wilson’s Phalarope, White-faced Ibis, and American Avocet. The wetland enhancement on San Juan Ranch is increasing the amount of shallowly flooded habitat for migrating waterbirds and wildlife and increasing the health of wet meadows which are especially critical for nesting habitat. The repairs and new infrastructure will allow managers to mimic natural hydrologic processes, efficiently utilize declining water resources, and promote the growth of vegetation in wetlands.