Baca National Wildlife Refuge

Legislative Authority
On November 22, 2000, Congress authorized the establishment of the Baca National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) located in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Authorization for establishment of the Refuge was included in Public Law 106-530 under Section 6 of the Act entitled, "The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act of 2000." In addition to the Refuge, the Act authorized the Federal acquisition of lands adjacent to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument for the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

In approving The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act of 2000, Congress determined that the lands to be acquired under the Act offered unique hydrological, educational, wildlife, recreational, and other diverse resources deserving preservation for the enjoyment of future generations. Total estimated acreage of lands included in the Act is approximately 203,632 acres.

Baca National Wildlife Refuge
Baca NWR will consist of approximately 92,500 acres of wetlands, sagebrush, and reparian lands located in Saguache and Alamosa Counties, Colorado. Other land features included within the Refuge are sand dunes, forested areas, and several thousand acres of ditch-serviced and irrigated lands.

Establishment of the Baca NWR is scheduled to occur in 2003 upon the acceptance by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) of approximately 3,300 acres of land in Saugache County, Colorado, from the Bureau of Reclamation (BaR). Another 97,036 acres of land, known as the Baca Ranch, are currently being negotiated for purchase by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) from the Cabeza de Vaca Land & Cattle Co., LLC, a Colorado limited liability company.
A portion of the Baca Ranch land being acquired by TNC (approximately 53,500 acres) will, upon the payment of Land and Water Conservation Funds (LWCF), be conveyed to the United States as a part of the refuge. Of the remaining 36,000 acres of land to be acquired for the Refuge, 20,000 acres are owned by the State of Colorado and the balance of approximately 16,000 acres is privately-owned.
The Refuge boundary abuts lands owned and/or controlled by other conservation entities including TNC, the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the Colorado Land Board of Commissioners (CLB). These neighboring landowners, along with the FWS being located within the San Luis Valley, will represent the largest and most diverse assemblage of wetlands in the State of Colorado.

The Baca Ranch
The 97,036-acre Baca Ranch is located in the San Luis Valley which has the oldest settlements in Colorado. The San Luis Valley is approximately 122 miles long and about 74 miles wide and has historically been dominated
by ranching, farming, timber extraction, and mining. Farming, ranching, and logging still persist in the valley, but more lands are being taken out of agricultural production and are being developed for rural recreational lands and residential home sites.
The Baca Ranch comprises themajority of the former 100,000-acre Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca Land Grant No.4. The ranch is currently owned by the Cabeza de Vaca Land & Cattle Co. and has a ranch carrying capacity to support about 2,500 cow-calf pairs.

Approximately 20,000 acres of the ranch are irrigated acres having either reliable water sources or are ditch-serviced or periodically sub-irrigated by limited water supply from ditch seepage or from temporary flooding of natural channels and naturally high water tables.

Partnerships
Purchase of the entire 97,036-acre Baca Ranch by TNC from its owners a. is scheduled to take place in 2003 in p accordance with the terms of the purchase agreement entered into between TNC and the owners in December 2001. Following TNC's purchase of the ranch, TN C will in turn, subject to the appropriation and availability of LWCF money, convey an undivided interest in the ranch to the United States as provided for in the contract, entered into between TNC and the Acting to Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. In addition, the Colorado State Land Board will have an undivided interest in the lands to be conveyed by TNC and will, under a separate agreement with TNC, manage portions of the lands to ultimately be made available for Federal use under the Act. The percentage of a partner's undivided interest in a portion of the land conveyed by TNC is on a pro rata basis of the partner's share in the consideration paid for the lands conveyed.

Exclusive ownership of the lands to be purchased from TNC as part of the proposed Baca NWR will occur upon payment in full to TNC by the United States from L WCF's money appropriated and allocated to the FWS for the purchase of lands for Baca NWR.