Wildlife Refuge

Five friends and I bought 480 acres of land in the northern San Luis Valley in Saguache County in southern Colorado. Previously, the land had been used for grazing cattle and it had several adjudicated wells pumping water.

With the help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, berms were created around the wells to create shallow lakes as habitat for nesting birds. By the next Spring, the ponds already were hosting several species of waterfowl and other birds. Over time, native grasses grew on the periphery on the ponds, making the area more hospitable to birds.

We called our wildlife refuge “Pazona” or Peace Zone, in reference to H.H. The Dalai Lama’s concept described in his Nobel Peace Prize lecture in 1989 as an area between China and India. He has applied this concept as applicable to different situations, from an area set aside for children and to Tibet as a whole.