Baca National Wildlife Refuge
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The Baca National Wildlife Refuge is 92,500 acre (374 km²) United States National Wildlife Refuge located in southern Colorado. It is located in the San Luis Valley in northern Alamosa and southern Saguache counties, northwest of the town of Alamosa, on the west side of the Sangre de Cristo Range. The site was authorized by the United States Congress in 2000 as part of legislation that also authorized the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was formally established in 2003 when administration began under the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It is administered jointly with the nearby Alamosa and Monte Vista NWR as part of the Alamosa/Baca/Monte Verde Complex.
The refuge consists of wetlands, sagebrush, and riparian lands, as well as sand dunes, forested areas, and several thousand acres of ditch-serviced and irrigated land. The establishment of the refuge and national park was part of complex arrangement of land transfers undertaken by the federal government in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy and the State of Colorado. Approximately 3,300 acres (13 km²) of the land was previously under the management of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and was transferred to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Approximately 97,036 acres (393 km²) of the land for the refuge and park was part of the historic Baca Ranch and was purchased by the Nature Conservancy before its transfer to the federal government. The refuge forms part of complex of wetlands in the San Luis Valley consists of lands of nearby landowners, including the Colorado Board of Land Commissioners, the National Park Service, and the Nature Conservancy.
