Nearly a mile of riverfront in Bent County is now a preserve for prairie wildlife and plants. Nonetheless, there’s much work to do at the new Purgatoire River Preserve adjacent to the Boggsville Historic site near the City of Las Animas.
Cottonwood trees and a prairie dog colony live along the tributary that flows into the Arkansas River east of the city.
“There's some really cool species that live in this river,” said Henry Pollock. He leads the Southern Plains Land Trust, which recently purchased the 500-acre parcel to create the preserve.
The river is also home to all kinds of birds, as well as the spiny softshell turtle, which isn’t found in many other parts of the state, Pollock said. That shows “really good biodiversity.”
But a lot of non-native species will need to be removed to return the area to its natural state, he said.
“When I look at this, I see 15 years of restoration,” he said. “I see enormous amounts of human effort and conservation innovation that's going to be required.”
Pollock said the aim is to work with the local community to turn the property into a nature hub with trails and educational programs.
“It's close to town, and so ultimately it could be in danger of encroachment from development,” Pollock said. “It’s very rare to find land that has substantial river waterfront property on a river like the Purgatoire. So those are some of the big reasons why we were so interested in the property.”
Even if there isn’t a building boom in that area, “If you have a bad landowner or somebody who mismanages the property, it could have huge problems,” Pollock said. “It could massively reduce the value of the property to wildlife.”
His plan is to restore degraded areas, he said, which includes removing tamarisk, non-native grasses and addressing an area where a wildfire recently burned.
The Southern Plains Land Trust will have help from local young adults.
Tara Castaneda is the program manager for the Eastern Plains Youth Corps, which is an offshoot of the Mile High Youth Corps and is based in La Junta. She said a handful of 18 to 24-year-olds will have a chance to gain work experience and outdoor work experience in the area they call home.
“A group of folks physically removing with chainsaws, the tamarisks and the Russian olives,” she said. “It'll pave the way for the next steps for the revegetation of the native willows and cottonwoods.”
Castaneda said opportunities for jobs and other activities for young people can often be limited in rural areas. She says this project at the new preserve will help create pathways into the workforce for the participants.
“Corps members are able to go out and do some projects on the land that's meaningful to the areas to preserve them, whether it's historical preservation or conservation,” she said.
The Southern Plains Land Trust worked with the Gates Family Foundation in Colorado to obtain funding to purchase the property. Funding for the youth program is coming through Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Great Outdoors Colorado.
