Colorado Mountain Ranch acknowledges that it is located on the stolen ancestral lands of the Ute, Apache, and Arapaho Nations. We recognize the genocide, environmental destruction, and atrocities committed against the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded this land since time immemorial.The Colorado Mountain Ranch directly benefits from the structures formed by colonization as our use and enjoyment of the land are only possible due to the forceful removal of indigenous groups from their ancestral lands. 

 

Recognition alone is only a beginning. Colorado Mountain Ranch believes it is essential to take meaningful, ongoing action toward healing the harm done to the traditional peoples of this land.

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In the 1970s, Lynn and Mike Walker became actively involved with their local Native American community. They attended gatherings and hosted many on the Gold Hill property. In the 1980s, Lynn and Mike recognized a profound equity gap and chose to respond by creating a nonprofit organization, Mountain Summers, that fully funded Indigenous children to attend summer camp. This effort was rooted not only in the belief that every child deserves joy, community, and access to nature, but also in the understanding that Native children should have access to their ancestral lands. This nonprofit is still active today and may have been among the first initiatives of its kind.

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Over the years, Colorado Mountain Ranch has continued to host a variety of Indigenous groups, guided by the belief that Native communities deserve access to land that was taken from them. The Ranch has also partnered with the local organization Right Relations, which works to bring Indigenous youth and elders together on the land.

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In order to continue offering this space and land at no cost to Indigenous groups, Colorado Mountain Ranch has established an Indigenous People and Land Back Stewardship Fund. This fee is contributed by all participants who are not members of a Native American tribal nation, as a form of material responsibility for the harms caused by colonization in the United States. These funds are needed in order to continue to offer space and land at no cost to indigenous groups. While many people living today did not directly commit these acts, we all continue to benefit from their historical and ongoing impacts. Once we know better, it is our responsibility to do better. The Colorado Mountain Ranch (owners, staff, campers, families) are the stewards of this place and commit to honor the land and its original inhabitants who have always belonged here.