This month, the CSPM is honored to announce our latest Story of Us unit, H=Hanna Ranch, Â which tells the important story of Kirk Hanna and his family ranchâestablished in 1947 about 20 miles south of Colorado Springs.
Kirk Hanna was one-of-a-kind. âIt was his belief that real ranchersâgood ranchersâloved their land as much or much more as any ecologist on the face of the earth.â This is how Ann Hanna described her husband, Kirk Hanna in 1998. Others have called Kirk: progressive, innovative, persuasive, a âRenaissance Rancher,â an âEco-Cowboy,â a consensus-builder, an intellectual, and an âidea man.â All would agree that through his visionary leadership, Kirk Hanna proved that land conservation and cattle ranching could and should coexist.
Importantly, the challenges Kirk Hanna faced in running his family ranch: rampant urban development, drought, and the harmful effects of traditional ranching practices on the land â were similar to those of his fellow ranchers. However, Kirk approached these challenges in new ways that changed cattle ranching in Colorado and beyond. His legacy of land stewardship is now a model for other ranchers.
Hanna Ranch was established about 20 miles south of Colorado Springs in 1947 by Walter Hanna and his son Clark Hanna. The sprawling 35,000 acre ranch was crisscrossed by Fountain and William Creeks. Just five years earlier the construction of Camp Carson in 1942 marked the beginning of exponential growth and development in Colorado Springs. In 1947, the population of the city was approximately 40,000 and by 1990 it had reached 355,000. Over the course of four decades, Hanna Ranch was encroached upon in all directions and by various threats. The ranch was cut in half by I-25 and utility lines and a natural gas pipeline were run directly through it. Adjacent to the ranch: housing developments, the Nixon Powerplant, a water treatment plant, and the Pikes Peak International Raceway were built.
Historically, economic development in Colorado Springs outweighed damaging environmental consequences. The subsequent negative effects on farms and cattle ranches include: 1) land erosion along Fountain Creek; 2) increased stormwater runoff; 3) loss of open space and agricultural land to housing developments and infrastructure improvements; 4) the tangible and intangible loss of Colorado ranching culture when land is sold to developers. Hanna Ranch is a powerful example of a national trend. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, half a million ranchers went out of business.
As a tenacious and creative advocate for both the conservation movement and the cattle industry, Kirk eventually joined nearly 20 boards and committeesâspanning from the Pikes Peak Cattlemenâs Association to the Audubon Society. He co-founded the Fountain Creek Watershed Improvement Task Force, helped to create the Colorado Cattlemenâs Association Land Trust, served as president of the Central Colorado Soil Conservation District, served as director of the Colorado Nature Conservancy, co-founded the Sangre de Cristo Chapter of the Sierra Club of Colorado, and was founding director of the Colorado Center for Holistic Ranch Management.
Background image courtesy of the Pikes Peak Library District.
Kirk Hanna led by example. He introduced Holistic Resource Management (HRM) at Hanna Ranch; showing that responsible ranching is good for the land and good for business. HRM is based on the natural grazing practices of Buffalo and Elk. Rather than overgrazing on the same patch of grass, cattle herds are rotated across the land. The result is the conservation of grasslands and streams and a more productive ranch. For his work preserving the Fountain Creek watershed, Kirk was awarded the Riparian Steward of the Year Award in 1994. In 1996, he received Coloradoâs Smart Growth Individual Award as a leader in sustainable agriculture.
After Kirk Hanna died on the Hanna Ranch in December of 1998, Ann Hanna and her family continue to run the ranch using Holistic Resource Management practices. In a 2002 interview, Ann stated that âThe day after he died, I knew I had to do Kirkâs work. That was the only thing I knew. I knew I wanted to raise my kids here.â In 2009, as a lasting tribute to Kirk, a conservation easement was set on 460 acres of Hanna Ranch, under the âPeak to Prairieâ program which will ensure the land remains open and undeveloped. The influential example of âengagement, scholarship, and conservationâ that Kirk Hanna provided in the Pikes Peak region, Colorado, and the West continues to live on.
Learn more about Kirk Hanna and his important work at H=Hanna Ranch at the CSPMâs  Story of Us: https://cspmstoryofus.com.
Featured image: Portrait of Kirk Hanna, courtesy of the Colorado Cattlemanâs AssociationÂ
