Posted: Thursday, February 06, 2025
Author: Dylan Bagnasco, Landscape Architect
Ranch owners, particularly first-time owners, face a multitude of decisions. Aside from the economics and management of the property, most aspire to create a legacy home or retreat for their families - a place that can grow with them and perform well as an investment. Creating and maintaining such a place does not come without challenges, but thoughtful planning and design can alleviate some of the pain.
Private agricultural lands can be bastions of ecological diversity, corridors for wildlife connectivity, and buffers separating urban and suburban development from wild places. The families who steward these lands, making up only 2% of the U.S. population, are keenly aware of this. There is an implied oath to do no harm and to improve the land to the best of one’s ability. A farmer and conservationist named Doug Durham likes to say of the land “it’s not ours, it’s just our turn.” While it’s your turn, you may as well make the best of it, striving to honor the landscape and legacy of those that came before.
Much of what makes a ranch special is the earnest and arduous endeavor of working the land. It’s in the memories of the old-timers, written in stone walls, hand-dug irrigation ditches, and rusted implements displayed like trophies of an age-old battle. These timeless characteristics of great ranches started with someone planting a cottonwood, erecting a split-rail fence, or driving a Ford until it broke down for good and became part of the furniture. Their efforts generally arose out of necessity, and the resulting authenticity is evident. Any attempt to imitate that character will put you at risk of falling in the category of “all hat and no cattle.” This is not to suggest that ranch structures must be dilapidated to be genuine; rather, demonstrating good taste might mean allowing those distinctive qualities of a ranch to develop organically over time. While you’re waiting for the gate hinges to rust and the shed antlers to amass over the years, there’s plenty you can do to create a special property. It all starts by working with the land, and not against it.
One of my mentors in landscape architecture likes to say, “when our work is done, it should look like we were never there.” This is especially pertinent to properties in the American West, where restraint is paramount to good design. It takes considerable effort to create places that seem effortless, and what you don’t see is just as important as what you do. Even when every moment and experience is meticulously curated by architects and landscape architects, it should all feel natural. A truly special landscape is one where visitors cannot delineate the transition between cultivated living spaces, pastoral surroundings, and the wild.
This philosophy of restraint in design is not ubiquitous, of course. English country homes were often placed on prominent hilltops surrounded by endless turf and parterre gardens, designed to dominate the landscape as an expression of the enlightenment and romantic ideals of the time. As marvelous as those estates can be, building something so grandiose and domineering in rural Montana would be an affront to the Rocky Mountains themselves. It would stick out like a sore thumb and would fail to provide what the land has to offer for so many: escapism. An American property should symbolize American ideals of rugged individualism and opportunity. This pioneering ethos is manifested in roughhewn beams, dry stack walls, and big-assed fireplaces - the latter being something on which we can agree with the English.
In the context of developing a ranch property, exercising restraint means designing things to be simple, utilitarian, and free of ostentation. At all times, weigh each decision with the natural environment in mind. As Aldo Leopold stated, “examine each question in terms of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Designing in deference to natural systems will also result in a more sustainable and resilient landscape over time.
At Black Fox Ranch in Wyoming, landscape context and cultural heritage were held in high esteem throughout the design process. A masterclass in restraint, this project preserved historic ranching structures and integrated them into the design. Weed management and restorative plantings cultivated healthy grasslands, and the elegantly simple forms of the home - designed by CLB Architects - yield to the magnificence of the Teton range.
A ranch should be a continuation of healthy ecological surroundings and a vantage from which to enjoy its surroundings, not the other way around. In the Albert Bierstadt painting that we are privileged to call home, infrastructure should disappear into its surroundings so as not to soil the sublime with propane tanks and wellhouses. With care and attention, the picturesque is attainable. It exists in a frame of our own making: on a knoll, between trees, through a breezeway.
I believe it’s part of our nature to find meaning in certain places. Every client I’ve worked with has some special spot on their land that they want to lend emphasis to. By simply spending time on the property, those places reveal themselves. At the larger scale, mapping and topographic analysis may be utilized.
Wildcat Ranch in Colorado is a prime example of this type of analysis in large-scale land planning. The subdivision of the original acreage into individual parcels was done with immense care to preserve wildlife habitat, connectivity and viewsheds. This ensured that future owners would enjoy those qualities of the land that made it so immensely desirable in the first place. Development studies were aimed at reducing visual and ecological impact, resulting in a place where the only neighbors one sees are the roaming wildlife and the towering peaks of the West Elk Mountains.
Development, whether architectural or infrastructural, should be an extension of the natural terrain, ideally taking advantage of topography to disguise or promote certain features. Roads should remain subservient to the landscape, avoiding large adjustments to natural grade and instead fading amidst the vistas. Buildings should shy away from ridgelines, electing to play second fiddle to their surroundings. No matter the architectural marvel, a building will never upstage the drama of a humble aspen grove or a meandering stream.
At Charlie Mountain Ranch in Old Snowmass, Colorado, a humble, rustic gate immediately sets the tone that Mother Nature is the star of the show. The gentle cadence of the gravel drive brings one through pastures, around mature mottes of Gambel Oak and finally toward the residence, by Pearson Design Group. The property lies along the edge of scrub oak shrubland and riparian ecosystems, and contains a rich agricultural heritage dating back to the Roaring Fork Valley’s early settlers. The design of the property is a delicate and successful response to these conditions, where rustic architecture, restored native landscape, soft edges, and mature trees foster a sense of permanence.
Water, if available for beneficial use, should be venerated and exalted. In landscapes that seem to stand still, where the mountains maintain a geological clock, water brings a welcome element of dynamism. It can reflect, trickle, meander, and cascade. By creating stream and pond features that mimic natural systems, water can become the heart of a property, with arteries bringing life to its extremities. It can also become a mosquito-infested maintenance nightmare, so tread carefully. Don’t dig a pond just because you can (see Restraint above). Water is too valuable to be used solely for reflection, and ponds can be so much more. When designed correctly, ponds can also provide benefits such as wildlife habitat, biodiversity, irrigation use, sporting enjoyment, and fire suppression - all in addition to the leisure and tranquility they invite.
The water resources at Roaring River Ranch in Woody Creek, Colorado were developed with ecology in mind. Once a working ranch and later transformed into an asphalt batch plant, this project site had become a neglected landscape. The plan included the reorganization and restoration of historic buildings into the overall site planning and design. The recreated ranch compound consists of a main house and five historic outbuildings that were carefully moved, rotated and reconstructed on site. This careful siting and restoration of historic buildings was complemented by the creation of a functioning riparian habitat that would satisfy the required on-site water storage and emulate the beauty of the natural surroundings. The result is a landscape that belongs—a simple yet profoundly beautiful place that has grown into a stunning legacy property.
There is an old saying that goes “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” When it comes to designing a ranch property, the same applies. Allow time to work in your favor. Your grandchildren will thank you. A design needs time to mature, and if you are designing with nature in mind, you’ll be pleased to find that she never goes out of style.
