2025 Conservation Award winner - Brice and Kate Lewis of the Lewis Lazy L Ranch

watermamashan
Aug 22
4 min read

By Wendy McDermott, Executive Director

Central Colorado Conservancy announces the recipient of its 2025 Conservation Award: Brice and Kate Lewis, owners of the Lewis Lazy L Ranch. The award will be presented at the Conservancy’s Stewardship Gala on Wednesday, September 10th at the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs Resort Pavilion in Nathrop.

“Brice and Kate Lewis are receiving the Conservancy’s 2025 Conservation Award because of their steadfast commitment to conservation, regenerative grazing, and work to keep working lands working for the collective good of our communities,” said Wendy McDermott, executive director of Central Colorado Conservancy.

The Lewis Lazy L Ranch, owned and operated by Brice and Kate Lewis, is a working cattle ranch with irrigated meadows and native woodlands across rolling terrain. The Lewises raise calves to sell into the beef supply chain, and they also produce and direct market grass fed, grass finished beef.

The ranch is incredibly scenic with panoramic views of the Collegiate Peaks, the Mosquito Range, and the Arkansas River Valley. The Lewis Lazy L Ranch also provides habitat for several wildlife species from songbirds to raptors, small mammals to big game, and reptiles to fish, all of which are significant contributors to the biodiversity of the region. The ranch provides critical winter range for mule deer, elk and moose. It also provides winter forage range for bald eagles, migratory habitat for greater sandhill crane, and breeding habitat for a state species of concern, the northern leopard frog.

Central Colorado Conservancy worked with the Lewises to protect their ranch through a conservation easement. In December 2023, the easement was finalized, thereby permanently protecting the 191-acre ranch along US Hwy 50, roughly three miles northwest of Poncha Springs. The conservation easement protects the wildlife habitat and scenic vistas found on their ranch. The easement also assures that agricultural practices can continue for generations to come.

Prior to placing a conservation easement on their ranch, the Lewises were participants in the Community Conservation Connection program, created and administered by the Conservancy and a local rancher task force. A non-perpetual, five-year Agricultural Conservation Agreement was placed on the property to protect its agricultural values and prevent subdividing. The Community Conservation Connection program helps keep Chaffee County ranches intact and can serve as a stepping stone to a perpetual conservation easement. The program allows participants to experience the easement process, build relationships with the Conservancy team, and learn about additional programs that support agriculture in our community while protecting the ranch from development. The Lewises are the first Community Conservation Connection program participants to choose to place a conservation easement on their ranch while enrolled in the program.

Additionally, the Lewises have been pioneers with the implementation of a new technology called virtual fencing. In 2022, a partnership with Central Colorado Conservancy, the U.S. Forest Service, the Upper Arkansas Conservation District, and Chaffee County ranchers was launched to bring virtual fencing to the area. The Lewis Lazy L Ranch was among the first five ranches to utilize virtual fencing to manage their herds. The Lewises emerged as leaders within this partnership and with the technology by learning the capabilities of the software quickly and mentoring other ranchers who utilize the technology. In addition, they’ve been gracious to offer space at their ranch to receive shipments of the virtual fence towers and stage them before they are deployed into the back country.

“We are deeply honored to be the 2025 Conservation Award recipient,” stated Kate and Brice Lewis. “Placing our property in a conservation easement coupled with the virtual fence collaboration were instrumental in our effort to implement regenerative grazing on both public and private land. Protecting working agricultural lands is not the work of one person, but a collective effort, and we accept this recognition on behalf of everyone striving to keep working lands working for the present and the future.”

When it comes to their ranching philosophy, Brice will tell you their goal is to raise good grass. The better the grass production, the better the beef production. It takes careful planning, stewardship and consideration to grow good grass in the arid environment of central Colorado. The Lewises participate in multiple programs that allow them to implement land health management tools like rotational grazing using virtual fencing and other practices that improve the health of the soils on their ranch and grazing allotments. Healthy soils improve water infiltration, reduce erosion, and increase species diversity and habitat.

“Our goal from the start was to use the purchase of this property to build our business, and if we can also preserve the beauty of the property and the open space, it’s a win for everyone,” the Lewises explained. “Ownership allowed us to add a base property to our forest permit, to have a home base for calving and wintering our replacement females, something we never had before. With the addition of the direct market beef business, we are expanding and becoming more sustainable. Without the support and encouragement of entities like Central Colorado Conservancy and Chaffee Common Ground, working agricultural lands will continue to disappear in our beautiful county.”

About the 2025 Stewardship Gala The Central Colorado Conservancy invites the community to attend their Stewardship Gala where Brice and Kate Lewis will be presented with the 2025 Conservation Award. The Gala is the Conservancy's largest and most important fundraiser of the year. Early bird tickets are $75 through August 24th. Beginning August 25th, tickets increase to $100. Tickets include a delicious dinner and drinks. The Stewardship Gala will feature opportunities to learn about the Conservancy's work and to support their important work through a dessert dash, silent auction, and more. Tickets can be purchased online by going to https://www.centralcoloradoconservancy.org/gala.

About the Conservation Award

Central Colorado Conservancy presents its Conservation Award to honor the recipient’s significant commitment, leadership, and partnership in protecting or restoring natural and agricultural resources in Central Colorado. The Conservation Award was established in 2009 to recognize the work of community members that align with the organization’s mission.

Previous award recipients include: