DENVER (KDVR) — A University of Colorado Boulder alumna has donated to the university a 476-acre land gift and endowment valued at $10.4 million.
The land includes the Spruce Gulch Wildlife and Research Reserve. Faculty and students at CU Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research have conducted research at Spruce Gulch for nearly 25 years, the university said Tuesday.
“The Spruce Gulch property has had a real impact on CU Boulder research studies over the years, and it’s inspiring to consider the ways in which this will continue to grow,” said CU Boulder Chancellor Justin Schwartz, in a statement.
The land gift and endowment were provided by Linda Holubar Sanabria, who graduated from CU Boulder in 1967 with an Associate of Arts and Sciences degree. The funds will be used to support current and future ecological and academic work at the site.
“Through her land and endowment gifts, Linda Holubar is fostering hands-on learning opportunities and strengthening the university as a leading research institution,” Schwartz said.
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A University of Colorado Boulder alumna has donated to the university a 476-acre land gift and endowment valued at $10.4 million. (Courtesy CU Boulder) -
A University of Colorado Boulder alumna has donated to the university a 476-acre land gift and endowment valued at $10.4 million. (Courtesy CU Boulder)
The land was previously owned by Holubar’s family for nearly 100 years and was inherited by Holubar in 1994, according to the university, which said Holubar has been managing it as a natural reserve since 2001.
Prior to donating the land, Holubar and her husband, fellow CU Boulder alum Sergio Sanabria, concluded a conservation easement with Boulder County, the university said.
Holubar, in a statement, said the land gift and endowment were conditional on the easement and “additional preservation terms.”
“Having grown up on this land and having it be a part of my family for almost a century, I view it as my heart and soul and want nothing more than to protect it,” Holubar said.
CU Boulder’s relationship with the land began in 2001 when Holubar contacted Tim Seasted, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor emeritus at INSTAAR, for help with an invasive plant on the land.
The collaboration was ultimately a success and led to Holubar agreeing to open up the land to CU Boulder researchers, according to the university.
“The history of CU’s environmental efforts includes some of the largest and most significant contributions to our understanding of high-elevation systems,” Seastedt said in a statement. “The acquisition of Spruce Gulch now allows us to pursue essential science relevant to the grasslands and foothills region, where most of us live. Therein lies the magnitude of this gift.”
The Spruce Gulch Wildlife and Research Reserve is not open to the public.
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