Gary Fonay
When Gary Fonay and his family purchased 800 acres adjacent to Red Mountain in 2023, conservation was already the plan. In 2025, they donated a permanent conservation easement, one of the most recent milestones in the program's 30-year history.
When Gary Fonay and his family began purchasing land adjacent to Red Mountain Open Space in 2023, conservation was already part of the plan. The 800-acre ranch, with its native foothills grassland, shrubland, ponderosa pine woodlands, and rimrock outcroppings, was the kind of place that felt worth protecting.
"Meegan first called me about a conservation easement not long after I purchased the ranch," Gary recalls. "My family and I were already interested in conserving the property, to protect open space and wildlife." The conversation that followed felt natural. "As I visited with Larimer County personnel, it became clear we shared a similar vision of conservation."
What followed was a collaborative process to work out the details of a permanent conservation easement, one the Fonay family ultimately donated to the county. Finalized in October 2025, the easement ensures the ranch will remain intact as a critical wildlife and habitat buffer west of Red Mountain Open Space, a landscape that has anchored Larimer County's open space program for decades — and one of the most recent conservation milestones in the program's 30-year history.
"Conservation is important to our family," Gary says. "It was great to work with Larimer County to preserve this special property, protecting important wildlife habitat forever."
For Meegan, who has spent more than two decades building the relationships that make these outcomes possible, the Fonay partnership represents exactly what the program has always aimed for: a willing landowner, a shared value, and a piece of land that will look the same a hundred years from now as it does today.
"My family and I are pleased to be partners with Larimer County in conservation."
Fonay Conservation Easement, 2025