The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced it will host an open house at the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge to provide information about and receive public comment on the Service's proposed addition to the Arapaho Refuge. The proposed addition includes the Chandler Ranch, in its entirety, located approximately 13 miles north of Walden, Colorado. The open house will be held at refuge headquarters, located at 953 JCR 32, from 5 pm to 7 pm on Tuesday, November 25, 2008.
Service staff will be available to explain its proposed addition of the Chandler Ranch and preliminary management concepts. The Service will consider all public comments in the development of an environmental assessment for accepting the property, which was donated to the Service by Mrs. Gloria Chandler upon her recent passing.
The Chandler Ranch includes nearly 2,125 acres of deeded land and additional Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing leases on adjoining BLM lands. The majority of the ranch is located to the east of the junction of State Highways 125 and 1 In addition, the ranch includes 40-acre parcel is located west of Highway 125 (about 2 miles from the main ranch) and includes the house where Mrs. Chandler and her husband, Ike, resided.
In addition to the deeded ranch acres, the BLM's Kremmling Field Office, which manages approximately 189,200 acres in North Park, has indicated interest in and support for the withdrawal and transfer to the Service several small, non-contiguous BLM tracts adjacent to the Chandler Ranch. These ?roundouts," which total about 605 acres, would provide additional quality sagebrush sagebrush
The western United States’ sagebrush country encompasses over 175 million acres of public and private lands. The sagebrush landscape provides many benefits to our rural economies and communities, and it serves as crucial habitat for a diversity of wildlife, including the iconic greater sage-grouse and over 350 other species.
Learn more about sagebrush habitat, reduce management, operations and maintenance costs for the Service, and delineate and clarify for the public refuge and associated boundaries. The total acreage for this proposed expansion of Arapaho NWR is 2,720 acres.
The National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 directs the Service to provide for the conservation of fish and wildlife and their habitat within the System; ensure effective coordination, interaction and cooperation with adjoining landowners; and, assist in maintaining adequate quantity and quality of water supplies to support the System mission and refuge propose. The donation of the Chandler Ranch represents a significant expansion of Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge and the National Wildlife Refuge System, and the Service welcomes all interested public to learn more about the proposed addition of the ranch and contribute comments on the proposal.
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