build houses. If a government agency buys it, there is a decent chance that the landing zone will remain available to us. If another rancher buys it, continued access is questionable. There are certainly other ranchers in South Park who will not let us use their land. If a developer buys it, then the Kenosha Pass flying site will definitely be lost.

I propose that the RMHGA approach the owner of the Kenosha Pass landing zone about purchasing it. Since we don't have any intention of developing the land, we may be able to come up with an attractive agreement for the rancher. For example, we could agree to allow free grazing in the landing zone as long as the rest of the ranch stays intact. In that way, we get the landing zone, he gets a tax break for (hopefully) selling cheap to a non-profit entity, but the ranch doesn't actually lose any pasture.

One of the most serious issues facing free flight pilots is site preservation. People breed, populations increase, cities get crowded, people try to escape the crowding, and thus houses get built in landing zones. If we want to preserve the flying sites in Colorado, we have to take action early to ensure that they are not developed. If we wait until development is imminent to take action to save a site, chances are that the site will be lost.

The specific Colorado flying site that I believe will be lost to development in a few years is Kenosha Pass. Highway 285, which is the route from Denver to Kenosha Pass, is being widened to four lanes to accomodate more traffic. The towns between Kenosha Pass and Denver, such as Pine, Conifer, Evergreen and Bailey, are all growing. It is only a matter of time until the development gets to the Kenosha Pass area.

The launch at Kenosha Pass is a nearly treeless south-facing slope that looks out over all of South Park. It is on public land, and is secure as long as we are good stewards of the launch area. The landing zone, however, is part of a privately owned ranch. It is a treeless pasture at the base of the 700' launch, right next to Highway 285, with wonderful views of South Park and the continental divide. It is a land developers DREAM, a prime location for high-dollar homes. The owner of the ranch has recently been talking about putting it up for sale, which could have three outcomes that I can see. Either a government agency will buy it to expand the adjoining public lands, another rancher will buy it to continue using it as a ranch, or a developer will buy it to