Huge Ranch Could Become Open Land
A huge cattle ranch known for its stunning vistas, trout streams and one of the nation’s largest wild elk herds would become public land under a deal reached Wednesday.
After two years of negotiations, a Texas family agreed to sell the 95,000-acre Baca Ranch to the federal government for $101 million in a deal that environmentalists had been pushing to preserve open space in northern New Mexico.
The announcement was hailed by The Wilderness Society, which called the ranch “a scientific treasure.”
The ranch contains the Valles Caldera, the collapsed crater of an ancient volcano that has been closed to the public since 1860.
Situated in the Jemez Mountains, the area features mountain towers, grassy meadows, trout streams and six valleys that include the Valle Grande, which stretches nearly six miles wide.
The ranch was originally a Spanish land grant.
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