One of the Denver area’s most popular recreation destinations is growing.

That’s after Jefferson County Parks and Open Space recently closed on 347 acres of historic ranchland adjacent to Matthews/Winters Park and Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre.

Braun Ranch has forever loomed in the near distance behind the famed venue, perhaps unbeknownst to concertgoers and hikers and mountain bikers of Matthews/Winters Park’s nearly 2,400 acres on either side.

“It was hidden in plain sight,” said Jeffco Parks and Open Space’s Community Connections Director Matt Robbins, “and we’re thrilled we’re able to acquire it.”

As is The Conservation Fund, which led negotiations on the $7.3 million deal that was funded by Jeffco’s sales tax-supported acquisition fund, with $2.3 million coming from Great Outdoors Colorado.

“Protecting this stunning landscape adjacent to Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a big win for Coloradans and visitors to our state,” The Conservation Fund’s Justin Spring said in a statement.

It’s land “right in Denver’s backyard,” Great Outdoors Colorado Executive Director Jackie Miller added. The acquisition “expands access to recreation and nature for millions,” she said, “and preserves that sense of awe that defines the Red Rocks landscape we Coloradans know and love.”

Indeed, Braun Ranch preserves a particular sense of awe, Robbins explained. He described a narrow, grassy valley between steep, forested slopes with sweeping views from above of distant peaks and Matthews/Winters Park’s surrounding hogbacks and hills.

“You feel like you’re at some really remote location,” Robbins said. “You feel like you’re thousands of miles away from everything, but you’re really just a stone’s throw from Red Rocks and downtown Denver.”

It’s a similar experience afforded by the mountain that neighbors Braun Ranch. Mount Morrison is popularly hiked from Red Rocks Park, which is owned by Denver Mountain Parks.

Robbins imagined a future possibility: “Already having that partnership with Denver Mountain Parks, to be able to climb to the top of Mount Morrison and perhaps making that more of a loop, tying into the northern portion of Matthews/Winters.”

But Robbins indicated trail construction and public access would not be happening anytime soon. “We’re going to start with our natural resources monitoring and really learn what’s all happening back there,” he said.

Jeffco Parks and Open Space views Braun Ranch as “a high-priority conservation property,” noting elk and deer that move through the corridor. Several flora and fauna of greater concern have also been noted, among them the Hops Azure butterfly, the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse and Fiddleleaf twinpod plant.

Recreation management will be a priority “because of the popularity of the park and being so close to the populace,” Robbins said. But “with an acquisition of this magnitude and importance, we don’t want to rush into it.”