Wet Mountain Tribune
Maytag Ranch honored by CU as model for sustainability
June 30, 2005
The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Leeds School of Business has identified Maytag Mountain Ranch in Hillside as a sustainable model for the future of cattle ranching in America.
"Development pressures are great with land values skyrocketing in many areas of the west," said Jill Terry, director of executive development at Leeds. "I believe that Maytag Mountain Ranch's success provides a wonderful example of how development can actually enhance sustainability – it appears to us to be a real win-win for the rancher, for the environment and for the community at large."
Maytag Mountain Ranch will be a main topic of discussion for the CU Boulder Leeds session on sustainable development July 27-29. More than 50 college academics and business leaders from around the country are expected to attend the three-day conference. One day will be spent at Storm Mountain Ranch, Maytag Mountain Ranch’s parent development located in Steamboat Springs.
Storm Mountain Ranch received the Smart Growth Award in 1998 from then Governor Roy Romer, and is well known for its sensitive approach to development, world-class fly fishing, and continued agricultural operation.
Russ Maytag wanted to go a step further on his 3,000-acre ranch and make sure that grass-fat cattle ranching would continue and even be improved upon if limited development were to occur. He brought in Jeff Temple, who created Storm Mountain, and a team of experts to shepherd along a "new ranch" concept. Maytag Ranch now not only produces organic produce, milk and eggs for its owners, it also turns a profit on its grass fat beef through niche marketing.
"When the land actually provides sustenance for an owner it creates in him a deep respect for how the ecosystem works," said Temple, now a partner in Maytag Mountain Ranch. "Our approach at the Maytag Mountain Ranch was to assemble a dream team of experts to safeguard our water, air quality and view sheds, as well as to improve the amount and quality of our wildlife habitat on the ranch."
Some examples of how sustainability occurs at Maytag Mountain Ranch are through limited development, food production, water conservation, energy conservation and protecting wildlife, These are all elements of the Ranch’s "Eco-Ranch" Plan.
