Family that used to farm Buc-ee’s
land has a message about the
effects of development
Todd Olander says agricultural acreage needs to be
conserved in Colorado
Colorado’s first Buc-ee’s is nothing short of a
phenomenon.
On March 18, the
Texas-born travel center opened one of its largest
locations in the nation in Johnstown with a 74,000-square-foot
convenience store, 116 gas pumps, and enough beaver nuggets to feed the entire
Rocky Mountain region.
Hundreds of fans
attended its grand opening, some coming from other states just to bask in the
red and yellow “aura,” as one fan put it, of mascot Buc-ee beaver. Even in the
weeks after, cars full of visitors backed up from the gas station
to the highway exit ramp, which sits in a mostly rural section of
Colorado, just southeast of Loveland
Amidst all the excitement, it can be easy to forget what
inhabited the land where Buc-ee’s resides before all the brisket and
hullabaloo. But not for Todd Olander.
For nearly 20 years, Olander, a 5th-generation farmer,
sowed and harvested the fields under and around what is now Buc-ee’s. He leased
the land to grow corn and alfalfa to feed local cows, as well as barley that he
kilned for local brewers to turn into beer. Because of its proximity to
Interstate 25, the lot also served as Olander Farms’ distribution hub for
livestock feed.
In 2021, Buc-ee’s bought 28.5 acres of those Weld County
fields from a company called Platte Land & Water; property records show the
beaver bigwigs paid $9,375,000.
On
the day of the gas station’s opening, Root Shoot Malting Co., also owned by the
Olanders, shared some thoughts about
urbanization with the company’s
followers on Facebook.
“We aren’t here to knock on Buc-ee’s. We’re excited for
them! It’s just too bad that it’s at the expense of some of our best farmland
that we used to lease,” the post states. “We also aren’t oblivious to
inevitable development along I-25. We get it. We’re adapting to the urban
sprawl and attempting to farm (successfully, we’ll add!) in our densely
populated Front Range suburbia.”
Development like this has become commonplace in rural
areas, which is why Olander and other conservationists have worked to preserve
land throughout the state.
The northeastern
plains boast some of the richest soil for farming while also making an apt
habitat for wildlife, according to Tony Caligiuri, president and CEO of the
Colorado Open Lands, a nonprofit that works to protect land so that it benefits
both wildlife and people. The region also happens to be one of the fastest-growing
parts of the state.
“It’s important soil that you don’t get back when you
build things like convenience stores on top of ’em, but the ag industry is a
huge economic driver in northeast Colorado. So we see what we do as not only
protecting open space but trying to protect rural economies,” Caligiuri said.
RELATED: Colorado barley farmers aim to
brew a sustainable future with novel grains
Olander Farms operates on about 2,000 acres, but the
family doesn’t own it; most of it is leased. The company has lost access to 250
of those acres in the last three years alone. While Olander was able to secure
more land, he chalks it up to being in the right place at the right time.
“Farmland’s hard to come by. It’s really competitive
around here between farmers that still exist. It’s hard to secure more land
because there’s less of it and there’s just not that many farmers around
either. They’re all looking to have more acreage and expand their operations as
well,” Olander said.
Photos by Chet Strange, Special to The
Denver Post
And the clock is ticking on another 70-acre plot adjacent
to Buc-ee’s where the family-run farm currently grows corn, barley and rye.
Most of Olander’s leases include a crop damage clause, which guarantees the
landowner will reimburse the farmer for crops should the plot be sold and
developed between the planting and harvest seasons. The lease for the fields
near Buc-ee’s doesn’t. Olander calls it a “farm at your own risk” deal.
(Platte Land & Water couldn’t be reached for comment
for this story.)
“The arrangement that we have, I think it’s fair. The
lease isn’t super expensive for us, cheap farmland for us even though we have
that risk,” Olander said. “Risk and reward I guess is what we’re measuring
out.”
The Olanders own 135 acres in Loveland, where Root Shoot Malting Co. is located. In 2022, they worked with Colorado Open Lands to put 112 acres into a ............
conservation easement,
meaning it is protected from development in perpetuity.
Farmer
Todd Olander and his team will be planting a winter grain called Lightning on
about 20 acres of farmland in Berthoud, Colorado on Thursday, September 21,
2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Since its founding in 1981, Colorado Open Lands has
helped conserve 690,000 acres of open space, mostly farms and ranches. That
space includes 3,000 miles of streams and rivers, Caligiuri said.
The organization came to be in response to thought
leaders in the state, who were concerned about increased development coming to
Colorado. Its work targets the Clear Creek Canyon, the Gunnison Basin, the
Northern Front Range, Northwest Colorado, the San Luis Valley, South Park and
the Wet Mountain Valley.
Landowners receive tax incentives for putting their plots
in easements plus the guarantee they can farm it for generations. They can also
sell the land in the future and the easement gets passed along to the new owner
as part of the deal.
“People come to Colorado and both visitors and residents spend a lot of money because of the amazing, epic views. So protecting these viewsheds is also an important way to protect Colorado’s economy,” he said.
Both Olander and Caligiuri maintain they are not anti-development nor are they anti-Buc-ee’s. However, they are in favor of raising awareness about the oftentimes unseen impacts of urbanization. Still, neither has yet patronized the beaver-topia.
“I’m sure I’ll go over there at some point once the hype has died down,” Olander said. “But if you ask my dad, he’ll probably never step foot in there.”
Rudy Arredondo
President/Founder
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