Ranch Habitat
Vast beauty – it’s the first indelible impression of Shadow Creek Ranch. The vision of Ranch is to maintain and enhance this beauty by adhering to these habitat stewardship goals:
Perpetuate healthy, natural habitats existing on the Ranch.
Manage activities in a way that ensures healthy soil condition and clean water on the Ranch.
Propagate lush hay meadows and pastures for the benefit of wildlife and livestock.
The habitat of the Ranch includes upland conifer forest, aspen stands, willow carr, sagebrush and mountain shrub, open grasslands, and hay meadows. This habitat is intersected with healthy riparian communities associated with the streams flowing east to the Blue River.
Conservation Easement
At Shadow Creek, utmost care was taken in crafting the conservation easement to ensure that the vast and varied features of this historic ranch will be present for generations to come. The conservation easement created extensive areas of untouched land that gives each owner a sense of expansiveness that extends far beyond their property boundaries and into the seemingly endless expanse of the Ranch’s nearly 6,000 accessible acres and neighboring Eagles Nest Wilderness area. The fields of wildflowers, grazing elk herds and deer, open range, and majestic vistas that you see today are much the same as they were in the 1880’s when the Frank Smith family initially settled.
The Ranch offers the ideal blend of a working mountain ranch, wildlife habitat and recreational paradise.
