​“All four children agreed that it was the appropriate thing to do – to conserve that land.”


Horses and cattle dot the meadows, young riders and horse owners come and go with purpose. Nestled in a bowl of rich soil and million-dollar views of Mount Sopris and Capitol Peak lies the Strang Ranch, one of the last great working ranches on Missouri Heights, northeast of Carbondale. 
 
The Strang Ranch has been deeply ingrained in the community for decades. Long known for its equestrian events and training opportunities, it’s also home to the National Sheepdog Trials, Roaring Fork Hounds Pony Club, grass-fed lamb, and the Mountain Blue Turf Farm. It was also the first host of AVLT’s Save the Land Dance from 2003-2007, Springfest in 2019, 2022, and 2023.
When Mike and Kit bought the property in 1965, they ran cattle. As their four children were growing up, they became involved in Pony Club. Later, the Roaring Fork Hounds hunt club found the ranch to be a great place to ride, and many members began keeping horses there. It evolved into a horse farm, with a sod-growing operation on the side. 

​​Mike was a Princeton graduate who served in the Colorado statehouse, where he passed legislation protecting instream flows in Colorado’s rivers and served as a U.S. congressman. Kit graduated from Vassar and has always been involved in her children’s activities and running the ranch. She is a past president of the Aspen Valley Land Trust Board and her son Lathrop was also a member of the board. 
 
The Strang Ranch is a place of majestic beauty and a living connection to the Western lifestyle that once graced so much of the Roaring Fork Valley. It is conserved forever and will be a part of the community and its landscape, forever.


​Lathrop Strang Memorial Fund


​On a perfect Colorado spring day in 2008, a perilous run down a chute atop Mount Sopris took the life of Lathrop Strang. His death shocked and saddened the valley and a void lingers where his intellect and energy contributed so much. 
 
Lathrop served on AVLT's board for six years, and before that was a board member of Western Colorado Agricultural Heritage Fund, which merged with AVLT in 2003. 
 
Land conservation, particularly that of working ranches, was Lathrop’s passion. He felt strongly that humans as well as animals need open spaces and land to grow food and fuel. Lathrop’s parents Mike and Kit, brother Scott and sisters Laurie and Bridget, asked that in lieu of flowers, people make a donation to selected non-profits, including AVLT. Since then, AVLT has received generous donations in Lathrop’s name. 
The Lathrop Strang Memorial Fund helps defray some of the costs landowners incur in donating a conservation easement. The funds are used to conserve working ranches that have been in one family for at least 25 years. 
 
When Lathrop’s father Mike passed in January 2014, the family asked that donations in his honor be made to the fund. Spectacular and productive ranches from Missouri Heights to Divide Creek have been permanently protected from development thanks in part to Lathrop Strang Memorial Fund donors. 
 
If you would like to make a gift to the Lathrop Strang Memorial Fund, please select the fund on our donate page, or send a check to: 

​
Aspen Valley Land Trust
RE: Lathrop Strang Memorial Fund
320 Main Street, Suite 204
Carbondale, CO 81623



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​​​WE NEED THE LAND, AND THE LAND NEEDS YOU

You can protect the future of our land