Colorado Ranch Receives Regional Environmental Stewardship Award

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Feb. 5, 2025) – LeValley Ranch in Hotchkiss, Colorado, was recognized today by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) as a regional winner of the 2024 Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP). Seven regional awards were presented to recipients during CattleCon 2025 in San Antonio. 

“Conservation practices of cattle farmers and ranchers across the country help to preserve natural resources and provide wildlife habitat,” said NCBA President Mark Eisele. “The stewardship efforts of these award recipients confirm our industry’s commitment to protecting the land and water for future generations.”

Established in 1991, ESAP celebrates outstanding land stewards in the cattle industry. Regional ESAP winners come from every corner of the country and undertake stewardship efforts unique to their environment, landscape and resources. The 2024 Environmental Stewardship Award Program regional winners are:

• Region I: Angus Glen Farms, LLC, Watkins Glen, New York 
•  Region II: Kempfer Cattle Company, Deer Park, Florida 
•  Region III: Little Timber Farms, Blackduck, Minnesota 
•  Region IV: Blue Ranch, Moore County, Texas 
•  Region V: LeValley Ranch, Hotchkiss, Colorado 
•  Region VI: Cottonwood Ranch, Wells, Nevada 
•  Region VII: Downey Ranch, Wamego, Kansas

“The LeValley’s willingness to discuss differing ideas, problem solve complex issues and explore new ideas to improve management have led to positive and lasting rangeland conservation,” said Ken Holsinger, ecologist with the Bureau of Land Management-Uncompahgre Field Office. “The LeValley Ranch is deserving of this award for their proven commitment to the stewardship and conservation of their public land permits and for their cooperative efforts in working with agency partners and other landowners.”

LeValley Ranch in Hotchkiss, Colorado, is a commercial cattle operation that seamlessly integrates federal and private rangeland to support livestock production, wildlife habitat and range vigor with plant diversity, while also directly connecting to consumers and their community through direct marketing of beef. For five generations, the LeValley family has been stewards of the land and they achieve their goals through an overall philosophy of land health and management that concentrates on allowing time to rest, grazing moderately and creating pastures where they are utilized in a different rotation in consecutive years. Diversification has also played a role in the ranch’s success with income support from a big game and bird hunting enterprise as well as through involvement in the beef supply chain with Homestead Meats processing facilities and retail store.  

“Healthy rangelands are important for the productivity of our ranch, and we wouldn’t be in business if we didn’t care for the land.” said Mark LeValley with LeValley Ranch. “If you manage the land right everything flourishes, and it is going to be here for the next generation.”

ESAP is generously sponsored by companies and federal agencies who share the cattle industry’s commitment to caring for the environment and protecting natural resources. Sponsors including U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Corteva Agriscience and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partner with NCBA to promote environmental stewardship throughout the beef supply chain. 

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