05/19/2026
Miller Ranch – permanently protected!
A third generation family ranch, the Miller property is located northwest of Fort Collins in the Laramie Foothills. The Miller family initially conserved parts of the ranch with Legacy Land Trust (which merged with COL in 2016). With this new addition to the earlier easements, they have now conserved the remainder of their ranch, totaling 371 acres.
The ranch consists of a mix of rolling hills, shortgrass prairie, irrigated meadows and ¾ mile of Park Creek, a tributary of the Cache La Poudre River. The habitats support a great variety of wildlife, including elk, black bear, pronghorn, wild turkey and a variety of bird species. Additionally, Bell's Twinpod, a rare plant only endemic to Larimer and Boulder counties, has been found on the property. The Miller family works with The Nature Conservancy to host students from Colorado State University annually to survey the property for this plant.
The Laramie Foothills has long been a priority conservation area for the local community. Nearly 30 years ago, The Nature Conservancy, Legacy Land Trust and Larimer County began building a vision for community-based conservation in this region, which ultimately resulted in the ground-breaking Laramie Foothills Mountains to Plains Project. The group realized that this region harbored tremendous biodiversity with large intact tracts in this unique transition zone where the high plains meet the foothills. Miller Ranch is surrounded by conservation easements on nearly all sides, many of which resulted from the Mountains to Plains Project. Protection of the entirety of the Miller Ranch builds upon this strong foundation, connecting those existing conserved lands and ensuring that wildlife corridors don't become fragmented.
Larimer County and Keep It Colorado were project partners. Photos by Dan Miller.
