Innovative plan keeps Montosa Ranch whole

By Joe Warren

El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

jwarren@dchieftain.com

   It happens all the time. A rancher leaves his land to his children when he dies, and then the land is split and sold in pieces.

   Those pieces are then split again and before you know it, a beautiful piece of wilderness has become a subdivision of houses or businesses.

   B.W. and Billie Cox wanted to make sure that doesn't happen to their land.

   They own 32,000 acres between Magdalena and Datil.

   While urban sprawl has not yet encroached, at the very least they were looking at the land being portioned off into smaller ranches. And then who knows? In 100 years from now it just might become a hotbed of 5-acre plots.

   "I just get sick to my stomach when I see some of that (subdividing)," B.W. Cox said. "I can understand what some of these ranchers are doing. To me, it's wrong."

   That is where the Montosa Ranch project comes in.

   Cox was looking for a way to ensure that his land stayed in one piece for many years to come.

   "What we're trying to do is keep it as open land," Cox said. "I want to keep it as a ranch so my heirs don't take it and chop it up."

   Teaming with Conservation Design Partners and Anthony Anella, Cox has come up with a solution to his worries.

   What he is going to do could become a trend in the Southwest.

The beauty of it

   Cox bought the ranch in 1989. It was an area that had his eye from the first time he saw it almost 40 years earlier.

   Cox tells the story of when he was a teen.

   "I was raised on the Red Lake outfit," he said. "Dad went up to Clayton and bought 250 head of Springer cattle."

   Cox said his father had the cattle shipped to Magdalena by train. That is where he picks up.

   "My brother and I drove them from Magdalena to Red Lake. For four days we drove them across this ranch. I thought it was the prettiest ranch I'd ever seen in my whole life."

   Montosa Ranch was originally part of the Cibola National Forest.

   In 1965, a group of ranchers obtained some land from the Jemez Land Grant and worked out a trade with the National Forest Service.

   It helped that one of those ranchers was then owner of nearby Double H Ranch. Jay Taylor was his name and he happened to have a friend in the highest of places. Since Taylor knew President Lyndon Johnson, the land swap had no real problems getting approved.

   Eventually the ranch made its way into the hands of Cox, who still speaks reverently about the land he grew up admiring.

   "We don't feel like it belongs to us," he said speaking for his wife.

   "We've got a little piece of paper that says we can pay taxes on it. But all of this belongs to the Lord. He just gave us the opportunity to take care of it for him."

An innovative approach

   The solution that Cox has come up with is a conservation easement.

   A conservation easement is an agreement between a landowner and a land-trust that limits the type and amount of development that takes place.

   In other words, Montosa Ranch will be preserved forever as a working cattle ranch, wildlife habitat and scenic open space.

   The easement that has been granted to Montosa Ranch has limited the number of lots that can be sold to seven. Each of these lots encompasses 640 acres, but the restrictions are much more detailed than that.

   The places where the homes can be built are limited to already set 5-acre spots.

   Cox has carefully considered these spots with the help of Anella, who is an architect.

   Each of them is nestled into the environment, which allows for as little interference with the ranch and wildlife as possible. The homes will also be set alongside and under ridges, not on top as often seen. This keeps the scenic open space intact.

   Other than the homes, the only other buildings allowed on the land are those that will benefit the ranch agriculturally. Even the barns and corrals that could be built under the easement are limited to certain areas near the homes.

   "B.W. Cox is a farsighted land owner who really cares about his land enough to do this," Anella said.

   The easement does not allow any further subdivision of the lots sold or the rest of the land on the ranch.

   Another interesting aspect of the lots is that the homes will not be seen by any other homes on the ranch. Anella and Cox actually went to each of the prospective home sites and made sure of that.

   "We tethered a helium balloon and ran it 30-35 feet (in the air) to make sure we couldn't see it from the other lots," Cox said.

   The two men did this for each of the seven home sites.

   Cox also said the homes would each have running water, telephone service and electricity.

   "I'll bring an over-ground line to the boundary of the lot and then I'll go underground," he said. The power lines will only be visible at the homes, as they will run from lot to lot underneath the soil.

   The homes will all be situated in unique areas on the ranch, giving them both a natural windbreak and a breathtaking view.

   On top of that, Cox will maintain grazing rights on all of the land.

   Therefore, the houses will be among the cattle and the wildlife, not instead of them.

   "We've been working on this for three and a half years. I think it's an innovative approach," Anella said. "The innovative part is the use of the conservation easement."

Romantic ideas

   While there are seven lots that can be sold, Cox is only going to put five on the market initially. The idea is not to sell off all the land, but instead to create some capital since the five-year drought has stripped ranchers of the ability to make money on cattle.

   "We're trying to hold our ranch together and also give me enough liquidity to establish an estate for my family," Cox said.

   The five lots that will be sold have not yet gone on the market. When they do, Cox hopes that he can sell the idea of living on a working cattle ranch.

   "So many people, they've got it in their minds that they'd like to live on a working cattle ranch," he said. "They've got a romantic idea of it. (Here) they'll be in the heart of a working cattle ranch."

   A.C. Taylor, a realtor with Caldwell Banker, is the person charged with selling the property for Cox. Taylor does not think there will be any problem selling the lots.

   "I don't look for these five properties to be on the market very long," he said.

   In addition to cattle, the land is home to elk, antelope, deer and numerous smaller animals and birds. Include views that are as pretty as anywhere in the western part of the state, and Taylor's opinion could hold true.

   "We've had people call that had heard that Mr. Cox was going to be selling the property," Taylor said. "It's a real premier-type area. A lot of people from outside the state have had an interest."

Setting a trend

   Anella and Taylor both said the use of an easement has put Montosa Ranch at the forefront in New Mexico.

   "Colorado and Montana have used conservation easements extensively," Anella said. "New Mexico is behind the curve, but catching up."

   "This is very unique," Taylor said. "I've been doing this for 28 years and I'm from four generations of ranching also, and this is the first time I've seen anything like this."

   Anella said that easements are not a new idea, but that they have primarily been used more in the eastern part of the country.

   "It's catching on in the west as a way for landowners to protect land as well as retaining ownership of that land," he said.

   "I'm very excited about this. Once these lots are sold and B.W. Cox's financial goals are realized, it can be a powerful precedent in this state," Anella said.

   Taylor also noticed the possibility of this idea catching on elsewhere.

   "This could be a model if anyone throughout the western United States wanted to preserve their own ranch," he said.

   Taylor was also impressed with how far Cox has gone to see that his ranch is maintained for many years to come.

   "Very few people take the time to go in and really design a project that takes all of the particular areas of interest," he said. "It's going to be something very unique in New Mexico."

   For Cox the time has been well spent.

   "My wife and I have had this dream for 15 years," he said. "I'm on the ranch right now and we'd just like to keep it how it is."