Comprising 5,813 acres, the Moon Place property is owned by the Tuttle family and serves as seasonal grazing ground. The Tuttle family is a 7th generation sheep ranching family that manages land spread throughout the lower Yampa River Valley. The family has a strong conservation ethic, having conserved over 23,000 acres of land in total. The Moon Place property is located in both Moffat and Routt Counties, about 8 miles southeast of Craig and 6 miles southwest of Hayden. The property lies within the Williams Fork Mountains and is within the Yampa River watershed.
The Moon Place property consists of sagebrush shrublands and shrubsteppe, Gambel oak mixed mountain shrublands, aspen stands, numerous ponds and springs, cliffs and rock outcrops. Habitat is provided for Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, ferruginous hawk, Greater sage-grouse, Greater sandhill crane, northern leopard frog, black bear, elk, moose, mountain lion, mule deer and pronghorn. Elk and mule deer use the property as part of a larger migration corridor.
The property is visible from adjacent county roads and from adjacent and nearby Bureau of Land Management and State Land Board lands. Numerous state-owned lands are in the vicinity and provide protection of Greater sage-grouse and recreation opportunities.
Project partners include Natural Resources Conservation Service and Routt County Purchase Development Rights.
All photos by D. Reeder, Rare Earth Science.
