Aspen Center for Environmental Studies: Stewards of the Land at Rock Bottom Ranch

Curiosity got the better of me as I road my bike along a pristine section of the Rio Grande Trail between Carbondale and Aspen. What exactly was this serene farm nestled along the Roaring Fork River below the towering peak of Mount Sopris, a place where children gathered around adult mentors and women with strollers walked the meandering trails among a variety of plants and animals? 

Photo by Chris Cohen Photography

I quickly found myself immersed in learning more about Rock Bottom Ranch, a 113-acre hub for environmental education, wildlands preservation and sustainable agriculture. The “mother ship” is the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES), which was founded in 1968 by Elizabeth Paepcke, who is originally from Chicago. She was motivated by the Aspen culture of harmony between mind, body and spirit and envisioned a place to serve as a sanctuary for wildlife, as well as a bridge to nature, for an increasingly urbanized society. 

Steady growth led the organization to develop ACES programming for both youth and adults at four primary sites: Hallam Lake, The Catto Center at Toklat, Spring Creek and of course, Rock Bottom Ranch. ACES provides innovative and immersive programming for all ages and now partner with more than 60 schools to provide education programs in the classroom and field.  Their programs focus on ecological literacy, regenerative agriculture, forest and ecosystem health, land restoration and environmental leadership, reaching 140,000 individuals each year.

Inspired by the words of founder, Elizabeth Paepcke, the ACES mission is “education for environmental responsibility.” Rock Bottom Ranch director Jason Smith said ACES has always recognized that food and land stewardship needed to be a topic of any environmental conversation — thus the birth of the farm.

“We at the ranch have always considered ourselves land stewards first and farmers second,” explains Smith. “That mindset is behind the reason and logic of our production methods.” 

Overall, Smith emphasized that all of their farming models are economically sustainable, first and foremost.

“I got into sustainable agriculture because of the economics of it,” says Smith. “When I started, I had no clue how intertwined environment, farming and food production were.”

Guided by nature, Rock Bottom Ranch touts three things that nature has: diversity, rotation and rest.

Diversity: The ranch raises cows, sheep, rabbits, laying hens, meat chickens and goats.

Rotation: Mobile fences keep the animals moving, which in turn keeps the pasture in a vegetative state, producing more biomass. In other words, “the animals eat everything on their plate,” for a more productive land, verses a large permanent pasture where they pick and choose what they want to eat.

Rest: Moving the animals gives the land rest. Continually grazing a field puts extensive stress on good plants, resulting in a weedy pasture.

“Essentially we’re choreographers dancing across the fields,” says Smith. “Our basic formula is a perennial poly culture, plus grass-eating animals, plus poultry as the clean-up crew, for lush native pastures.”

The farming model’s goal is to create scaleable, replicable systems of agriculture, whether it be your backyard, thousands of acres of farmland, desert or rain forest.

Rock Bottom Ranch focuses on educational systems in farmer training, from Summer Stewards (interns) who dip their toe in the water of the farming experience to their extended apprentice program to a full-time crew for operations, management and public education. The ranch offers a stepping stone to a diverse number of career options, from farming to energy to property management and landscaping, just to name a few.

“We don’t expect everyone who works or visits Rock Bottom Ranch to become a farmer,” adds Smith. “But, the exposure has a ripple effect that is felt out in the community. When we reach children, it will show in their adult lives. We are training the next generation of land stewards.”

Smith has repeatedly witnessed first-hand how being connected to food and agriculture have bridged gaps and helped him find common ground with anyone he comes in contact with.

“Farming has the ability to bring communities together, connecting them like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Smith believes. “Nothing else has that power.”

ACES and Rock Bottom Ranch program information, directions and hours of operation can be found at aspennature.org.

Originally published in the Fall 2021 issue of Spoke+Blossom.