Water, Ranches, and Sound Development

OUR COMMUNITY

by: Joel Benson

One of the issues facing Chaffee County is the balance of rapid growth and sound development. A key element of this balance involves keeping our water resources in the valley, and helping agricultural land remain productive. Our county, with only 20% private lands, relies on the irrigation practices of ranchers and farmers to recharge our freshwater stream2

aquifer and to keep the swaths of beautiful green places scattered about the valley floor. Unfortunately, local and global economic pressures create a difficult situation for many agriculturalists to stay profitable, encouraging parceling of land and selling of water to other parts of the state.

One of several ways to combat these challenging economic pressures is to creatively look at how to manage time, money, land, and animals. The 22nd Annual Colorado Holistic Management Dialogue is designed to help provide creative solutions, and will take place this weekend in our Community Center, in downtown Buena Vista. Twice a year, ranchers, farmers, business people, community leaders and interested citizens from around fence

the state get together to talk about how to help their economic situation.

At 9 AM on Saturday the 3rd, people will gather to learn about practices relevant to their family, business, and ranch operation. They will share experiences about land planning, grazing, balancing production with profit, and learn from others’ successes. Everyone is invited to spend time in beautiful Buena Vista, a town looking to balance rapid growth with the need to maintain productive agricultural lands. Nestled in the Collegiate Peaks, it is a town in transition with a developing New Urbanism influence, and a heavy recreational influence.

Colorado Holistic Management is a non-profit membership organization founded in 1985 by a group of ranchers and citizens concerned about the future of farming and ranching in Colorado. Today our membership includes people from many walks of life who are interested in exploring new and better ways to nurture the land, to build better teams, to increase profitability, create healthy communities and enjoy a richer lifestyle.
Using the Holistic Management ® Framework as a decision making tool, many of our members have made progress in building healthy productive land, strong families, and successful businesses including diversified farm and ranch enterprises.