Colorado county's $34m ranch purchase adds 530 acres to protected wilderness

In a major expansion of protected public land, 530 acres of a historic Colorado mountain ranch are being formally added to the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, two years after local officials secured the property in a record $34 million purchase. Known as Snowmass Falls Ranch, the 650-acre property sits in the upper Snowmass Creek Valley and had been privately owned for more than a century. Pitkin County bought the property in 2024 through its Open Space and Trails programme to prevent it from being divided for housing. Under the planned agreement, most of the ranch will be transferred to the United States Forest Service and permanently added to the surrounding 181,535-acre federal wilderness area.