Easement protects almost 1,000 acres in Yavapai County

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MAYER — Nearly 1,000 acres of historic ranch land along Ash Creek in Yavapai County will now be preserved for sustainable agricultural uses, preventing development while ensuring the protection of water and land resources.

That’s all thanks to a new conservation easement on the Orme Ranch.

“It was a way to protect the land we love but at the same time have a productive agricultural enterprise on it,” ranch owner Paul Orme said.

The Orme family originally bought the land in 1929 and began cattle ranching, which has continued in the decades since. Today, the ranch is primarily operated by Paul Orme, his wife and his three grown children, along with his nephew.

“Of course we always really loved the land and we never saw this as a shortterm profit-making endeavor,” Orme said. “So we always had incentives to treat the land as best we could.”

Under the conservation easement, the almost 26,000-acre Orme Ranch will continue operating with the protected lands restricted from ever being subdivided or developed beyond what is needed to maintain existing ranching operations.

“I truly believe that agricultural food production is critical to this country and with Arizona having such small amounts of private lands, I just think that it’s really critical that we keep as much of this land in agricultural production as we can,” Orme said.

The ranch’s location, which sits about 75 miles north of Phoenix, would traditionally make it appealing for future development, especially in light of the growing population across northern Arizona.

“When I look at this project, I see it as coming together to protect environmental reasons as well as what I would call orderly development,” said Jeanne Trupiano with Arizona Land Conservation Services.

The now-protected land includes a

PROVIDED BY ARIZONA LAND CONSERVATION SERVICES

The Orme family has operated their ranch in Yavapai County for almost 100 years. The current generation of ranchers includes, from left, Mallory, Katie, Shawn, Paul and Lauren Orme. large swath of Arizona’s native grasslands which provide habitats for pronghorn, yellow-billed cuckoo and more species in the area, Trupiano said.

“It’s ripe for development and yet, with all of these environmental attributes, it seemed like something that was really important to protect,” Trupiano said, especially considering Yavapai County’s expressed mission to protect the area’s rural character.

The Central Arizona Land Trust will be responsible for overseeing the terms of the conservation easement in perpetuity. The easement was funded through private donations and matching grant funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“I fully support the Orme Conservation Easement,” Yavapai County Supervisor James Gregory said in a statement announcing the easement. “This important effort will help keep this beautiful area rural, and it will preserve the legacy of the Orme Ranch for future generations.”