Gazette: Inside Lost Canyon: A look at Castle Rock's largest-ever open space addition

DOUGLAS COUNTY - Pronghorn prance in the prairie atop the mesa. A bear’s paw is imprinted in the dirt. Turkey vultures encircle the sky ahead, in the direction that Justin Spring and Jeff Brauer walk now.

In a matter of steps they are immersed in a ponderosa pine forest. They stop at the edge of a cliff, high above the canyon’s verdant floor.

Here where downtown Castle Rock is only a short drive away, they stop to appreciate the silent, stunning wild.“And then you stand here and look in the distance and you’ve got houses pressing up against the canyon,” says Brauer, Castle Rock’s parks and recreation director.

“That’s what could’ve happened here,” Spring says.

Instead, Lost Canyon Ranch has become Castle Rock’s largest-ever open space acquisition — a startling mosaic of evergreen forest, rolling grasslands and rocky, vertical walls that span 681 acres, breaking the neighborhood on the southeast edge of town.

A $15 million deal was finalized ahead of the summer. It was a deal brokered by Spring, state director of The Conservation Fund, a national leader in this kind of real estate.

Spring had eyed Lost Canyon for more than a decade.

“You only have so many undeveloped parcels left on the Front Range,” Spring said as the deal was coming together, “and I would say Lost Canyon is one of the most unique I’ve ever seen in my 20-plus years of doing conservation work.”

Castle Rock Mayor Jason Gray thinks of it as the Front Range’s greatest open space success story in recent memory. For the town, it’s probably the greatest outdoor story since 2014, when Philip S. Miller Park opened to be a beloved hub of recreation.

Lost Canyon is about the size of that park and nearby Ridgeline Open Space combined, Gray has noted.

“We’re always doing surveys, and one of the top things (residents) tell us they want is more open space,” he says. “This is the ultimate.”

Lost Canyon is vastly different from anything in the town’s open space portfolio. It’s different from just about anything in any other town’s portfolio for that matter, comparable only to Castlewood Canyon State Park. Lost Canyon borders the park, that so-called “jewel of the prairie.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife over the years has eyed this neighboring tract that has served as a private retreat; the home, horse stables and riding arenas here recall generations of family revelry. Along with CPW, developers have eyed Lost Canyon.

Housing proposals of varying densities failed over the years while the town repeatedly declined to annex the land and add utilities.

“From an access standpoint, from a water standpoint, it never really worked out,” Brauer says.

Lost Canyon’s owning family made clear the interest to sell in recent years; at one point the property came on the market for $20 million. That was ahead of a development proposal for larger, 35-acre lots.

“That one they probably could’ve done,” Brauer says. “That’s what sort of kicked off the effort.”

The effort for the town of Castle Rock to take ownership — however unlikely it seemed.

For the tax-averse town, Spring knew he had to rally funding partners. He needed partners, and he needed the stars to align.

“Like a lot of real estate deals, it’s all about timing,” he says.

Great Outdoors Colorado, the 32-year-old agency doling out lottery proceeds, was in the process of announcing its largest wave of funding ever — for “once-in-a-generation” projects under its Centennial Program. This was on the heels of Douglas County voters extending a 30-year program collecting sales tax revenues for open space acquisition. That revenue base was one the town lacked.

Great Outdoors Colorado pledged $3 million to Lost Canyon while proponents waited on a decision from county commissioners. Leadership was pitched on the idea of a regional open space, of something significant to all of the county and beyond.

“It’s not just a Castle Rock project, not just a Douglas County project,” Spring recalls as the message. “It’s of statewide significance.”

The county open space program’s $5.5 million sealed the deal. Castle Rock’s Town Council unanimously approved the rest of the $6.5 million largely coming out of its general fund and a water rights revenue fund.

In a statement following the purchase, Douglas County Commissioners’ Chair George Teal referred to Lost Canyon filling a gap between Castlewood Canyon State Park and the county’s Prairie Canyon Ranch Open Space. Lost Canyon filled “now nearly 4,300 acres of contiguous protected open space in eastern Douglas County,” Teal said.

He added: “Preserving this ranch creates astounding potential to plan unique recreation opportunities for the residents of Douglas County.”

That planning could launch next month, Brauer says. He expects talks over management and trail development to cover 12-18 months, during which time Lost Canyon will remain gated.

He expects that recreation development to be “fairly minor,” in line with a conservation easement aimed at protecting wildlife, ecosystems and cultural and historic sites. Of concern is a well-studied cave known to have been occupied by hunter-gatherers 8,000 years ago.

Of concern, too, will be the surrounding neighborhood. Town Councilmember Max Brooks is one longtime resident.

“This piece of private property has had little to zero traffic, and now it’s something that will be a major attraction,” he says.

Whatever angst some feel, Brooks counts himself among neighbors feeling relief.

“This area has been discussed for many, many years and for anybody who’s been around this area ... We’ve been very concerned about seeing development here,” he says.

It’s a concern all throughout town, indeed the story of towns across the Front Range grappling with growth. In Castle Rock, those resident surveys showing a desire for open space are no wonder, Brooks says.

“We’re at a point now where development is more than ever, and the availability of open space is far more limited than it has ever been,” he says. “There just aren’t many opportunities like this to reinforce to residents that, yes, we are listening.”

Not many opportunities for wilderness so close to town. That’s what Lost Canyon can feel like — wilderness amid tall woods, riparian corridors and rugged, ancient rock.

And then houses come into view over the horizon. Spring curiously delights in this view.

“There’s just something about that juxtaposition, that contrast,” he says. “I think it speaks to the level of urgency that the community felt about this property.”