A philanthropic, third-generation ranching family that owned land in west Routt County for 114 years is continuing a legacy of giving to natural resources and land stewardship education in Colorado.

Former Routt County ranch owner and retired agricultural economist Karin Utterback-Normann recently donated $1.23 million to the Colorado State Forest Service and the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University toward construction of a training, research and experiential learning facility in Jackson County.

The gift will be used to transform the current Michigan River Camp at the Colorado State Forest into new facility that offers place-based learning, training and research. The camp will be a learning location for the next generation of foresters, resource managers and researchers, according to the State Forest Service.

The concept of the facility has been under discussion for more than 20 years, according to a media release from the State Forest Service. The recent gift kickstarted a fundraising effort that collected a total of $3 million to transform the Michigan River Camp.

“The Michigan River Camp is located in the heart of a forest with awe-inspiring scenery, wildlife, history and places to explore nature,” said Matt McCombs, state forester and director of the CSU Colorado State Forest Service.

“Bringing people to a modern facility there will give them an opportunity to learn about areas of forestry, land management and natural resources on-site directly from the experts doing the research. I am grateful to Karin for helping to make this long-time vision a reality and build on the legacy of learning at the Colorado State Forest,” he added.

“The Michigan River Camp facility will enhance our outreach capabilities and provide new experiential education opportunities for our students in an important region of the state with a unique ecosystem,” said A. Alonso Aguirre, Warner College dean.  

The planned facility would provide a dedicated location for the State Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and other organizations to host on-site learning for staff, schools and other partners inside and outside of the university. Both state organizations actively work in environmental education and have supported local school outdoor programs at the Colorado State Forest.

Current research opportunities at the camp include such topics as climate change and climate adaptation, fire ecology, water quality and yield, grazing and outdoor recreation.

The existing camp includes a log home that supports seasonal and permanent staff at the forest. The new project would build a meeting center with kitchen and bathrooms near the log home and construct all-season yurts and cabins. The completed camp will provide classrooms, meeting spaces and overnight lodging for up to 40 people and will serve schools and other entities in Jackson, Routt, Grand and Larimer counties and across Colorado.

Utterback-Normann said Michigan River Camp “is going to be an absolutely outstanding, first-class location” due to the variety of ecosystems within that area. She and her husband, Ronald Normann, both have connections to CSU in Fort Collins as a graduate and former research employee, respectively. The couple retired to Grand Junction in 2020.

A third-generation descendant of homesteaders in Routt County, Utterback-Normann earned a master’s degree from CSU in agricultural economics, agronomy and anthropology. She spent 15 years in her career as an agricultural economist working for nonprofit and governmental agencies in India, Japan, Colombia and southern African countries. She returned to Routt County in 1994 to take over the family ranching operation including raising sheep and hay.

The former ranch owner said her goal is to contribute to efforts toward proper land stewardship through education. She previously donated half of her family’s 2,121-acre ranch land west of Milner to the university. Before the entire ranch sold, the property had served as an outdoor classroom for CSU ecology and forestry students. In the past she also donated gifts to the CSU Colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.