THE RANCH

Bear Dance Ranch rests on a bench of land just above Woody Creek Road, encompassing five finger-like mesas that drop down from Vagnuer Mountain and the narrow ravines that divide them. Four of the mesas have been tended as hayfields while the fifth – more rugged than its siblings – is in a wild state.

PROTECTED LAND

The ranch borders the White River National Forest. The adjoining US Forest Service (USFS) lands are an officially designated Roadless Area and managed with special protections. The North Woody Roadless Area, 13 square miles of USFS undisturbed by any motor vehicle routes, is governed by the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Issued in 2001, it protects inventoried roadless areas nationally from most new road-building. With most of America’s National Forests already open to logging, mining and drilling, the rule was intended to preserve the last undeveloped areas of USFS forests as a home for wildlife, a haven for recreation and a heritage for future generations. The North Woody area is recognized as a critical big game migration corridor from the Williams Mountains in the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness Area to the Sloan Peak area near the Roaring Fork/Fryingpan confluence.

SPECTACULAR VIEWS

The views from this high bench of Aspen’s ski areas are unparalleled – Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass – stand for inspection in the vista. The entire Elk Range unfolds before the ranch, revealing jagged summits and permanent snowfields that lie miles beyond any road’s end. The range’s 14,000 ft summits – Castle, Capitol, Pyramid and the celebrated Maroon Bells – pierce the horizon. Two great mountainscapes bookend the view of the Elk Mountains – the Sawatch Range to the east defines the Continental Divide, the very backbone of the continent; to the west the flanks of the Grand Mesa gather into the largest plateau in the world.

BUILDING LOCATION

The building envelope is ready to go. Approvals have been secured. Electricity stands waiting at the lot line. A gently sloped road down to the Woody Creek blacktop is in place and primed for any desired improvements. The property has great water rights from the nearby Collins Creek.

WILD LAND & WILD LIFE

Within the ranch, the ring of property surrounding the hayfields is old growth sagebrush and Gambel Oak scrublands. The US Forest Service, which owns and protects much of the adjacent land, has declared the sagebrush ecosystem to be one of the nation’s most threatened with over half of its pre-settlement range already vanished.

Bear Dance’s sagelands are a rich habitat that nourish and shelter an abundance of wildlife. Acorns from scrub oak and the fruit of the serviceberry trees feed black bears as well as rock squirrels and mountain cottontails which in turn feed the red fox and bobcats. The grassy ground cover sustains plentiful mule deer and one of the valley’s larger winter herd’s of elk. Shrubland birds like the green tailed towhee, the Brewer’s sparrow, and the sage sparrow can be seen on the Ranch and have been federally classified in the fastest declining group of avian life. The owner’s of this extraordinary estate will be the caretaker’s of one of the last, best privately held habitat’s for these threatened species.