The preservation of a historic 500-acre ranch in the San Luis Valley has earned Colorado’s Los Caminos Antiguos Byway the national Beautification Community Award.

The byway — a 129-mile road running from Alamosa to Champa, New Mexico — was presented the award Thursday from the National Scenic Byway Foundation.

“(This award recognizes) not only the successful effort to protect important agricultural land, but the unique and beautiful scenery, history, culture, heritage and traditions not found anywhere else,” said Julie Chacon, interim director of the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, which oversees the byway.

The byway was chosen as the recipient of this annual award because of its completion of its preservation project for the historic Rancho la Luz along the byway.

Rancho la Luz, located near the New Mexico border, is one of the four oldest ranches and permanent settlements in Colorado at more than 150 years old. It serves as an integral part of the Valley and Conejos County’s agricultural landscape, Chacon said.

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Great Colorado Outdoors provided the byway with $230,000 to help preserve and protect the ranch.

“It took a long-term commitment and a substantial amount of work from all the various partners for this conservation effort to succeed,” said Byways Program Manager Lenore Bates. “This easement truly exemplifies the spirit of our Byways program.”

The preservation of the ranch, part of a growing block of conserved land in Conejos County, is a function of the Conejos Ranchland Initiative, a partnership between Colorado Open Lands, Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust.

Former Congressman John Salazar and his wife Mary Lou, core conservators of Ranch la Luz, originally repurchased much of the property with the goal of keeping the ranch intact.

Other partners include the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Colorado Rio Grande Basin Implementation Plan, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Conejos County Commissioners.