Serious investors looking for ranch property for sale in the West understand the importance of conservation.
Ranchlands are vital for soil and water conservation and offer important wildlife habitat. Large swaths of private land generally offer some of the most intact natural landscapes in the West. These landscapes are vital for everything from big-game herds to less-heralded critters, like the mountain plover.
Smart investors, when they’re looking for ranch real estate in the Rockies, will seek out properties that have good conservation value. Large swaths of connected acreage provide quality habitat for fish and game. But they also serve to mitigate the impacts of development, to say nothing for their economic value when it comes to fishing and hunting.
The federal government recognizes the importance of intact range lands. Through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, investors looking for ranch property for sale in the West can find a helpful partner that can make ranch land even more valuable.
The importance of private lands
The vast majority of healthy, intact grasslands around the West are in private hands. That’s why NRCS seeks out ranch owners who value conservation. Through the service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the NRCS can help ranch owners improve or maintain quality landscapes.
The reason? These lands are vital for clean water, healthy soil and intact habitat for migratory animals, like deer, elk, pronghorn. They also provided needed habitat for inland shore birds like sandhill cranes and other migratory birds. These birds face threats from ever-shrinking habitat that come with general human development.
Incentives?
What’s in it for ranchers or investors looking for ranch property for sale in the West? Through EQIP, the NRCS can help ranch owners craft a personalized conservation plan. These plans can help restore degraded habitat or maintain existing intact habitat. And, there is federal money available to assist ranchers in carrying out these plans.
What can these plans do? They can help mitigate against drought. They can help improve soil, water and even air quality. And they can help preserve ground and surface water on private lands. Technical assistance through EQIP is free, and there are grant programs available that can even pay ranch owners in advance of any work done to improve a ranch’s overall environmental health.
Investors looking for ranch property for sale in the West can seek out properties that have benefitted from EQIP conservation plans. These lands are often healthier. They’re also likely more valuable from an investment perspective.
Final word
Working with the government might seem antithetical, especially for rural ranch owners. But the NRCS is largely focused on private lands and how they function in the larger conservation picture. What’s more, working through EQIP isn’t onerous. Working with real range managers and biologists to preserve or improve ranch habitat is good for everyone. For sellers, it makes ranches more valuable. For investors looking for ranch property for sale in the West, healthier habitat has a definite appeal.
