CCALT Helps Gates Family Provide for Their Ranch's Future

The Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) has recently partnered with the Gates family to conserve the Gates Cattle Company LLC with help from the Routt County Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) Program and the Lower Colorado River Habitat Partnership Program.

The ranch — which is a heritage ranch homesteaded by the Kayser family — provides big game habitat and is occupied sage grouse habitat. It lies in the Colorado River Basin with portions of Sutton Creek and King Creek flowing through it.

Kelly Gates says that they decided to put their ranch in easements to keep it as a working ranch while keeping the future in mind. She shares more about how the easement agreement also helped with her family's estate planning.

Gates: "So we do run cow calves and then yearlings in the summer on some leased ground. We raise quarter horses and we are set up in business with our son Whittier and his wife Tiffany and their two boys. We want it for future generations. The boys — Koy is 5 and Kace is 1 and 1/2 and they already have their own cow herds started. As far as our other two children we went through family planning estate planning when we did the easement. We purchased life insurance to offset their inheritance. That was very good route we were advised to take from our estate planner rather than the other kids in the ranch having to buy out the other partners. It worked really well for our family. I understand that every family is individual that way — but it was a good plan for our family."