Six generations of the Hutchinson family have worked this land,
700 acres between the towns of Poncha Springs and Salida in south-central Colorado. Here, 7,000 feet up, the Arkansas River makes a turn to the southeast like an arm folding at the elbow, and the South Arkansas River flows off the Continental Divide to join it. Some places—the old cattle chutes, the high juniper forest overlooking the valley—seem little
altered since the Hutchinsons first settled here in the 1860s, before Colorado was even a state. But like much of the American West, the landscape here is changing fast. New houses are rising from former farms and ranches, now subdivided, all along this stretch of Highway 50. “For Sale” signs feature prominently on neighboring properties. “Every year there are more challenges,” says Abby Hutchinson, current ranch manager. Increas-
ingly, expenses outpace the ranch’s earnings—and there’s the specter of inheritance taxes some- where down the road when the land passes from her grandfather’s hands. But for the Hutchinsons, selling off the ranch and walking away from their community and heritage is not an option. Instead, she says, “We have to diversify.” It’s a strategy the family always turned to in tough times. Annabelle Hutchinson—Abby’s great-
great-great-grandmother—had four mouths to feed when her husband, Joseph, died in 1882: she continued to run cattle but also dressed chickens and turkeys for her neighbors to make ends meet. Two of Annabelle’s sons worked for the railroad, supplementing ranch income with shifts on the narrow gauge. And when Abby’s grandfather Wendell Hutchinson took over the ranch, he also served as the region’s most trusted veterinarian. The neighbors still call him “Doc.” Now, the Hutchinsons have chosen a modern solution to keep their business afloat. Working with
conservation groups, they’ve protected more than half their property with easements that perma- nently safeguard the land from development—while giving the family the financial resources they need to keep it in production.
48 · LAND&PEOPLE · FALL/WINTER 2013
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