Zak Danielson

Zak was born into an agricultural family in Fort Collins Colorado. As Zak got older, he spent his time between Fort Collins and Ault along the front range. In Ault he spent time on his father’s family farm helping to irrigate and getting in the way of his grandfather while working cows. In Fort Collins he went to school and learned a love of nature and sustainability. Growing up between these two worlds Zak has truly learned and developed an appreciation for what agriculture does for people and the land. He also was fortunate to have a family that prioritized keeping the environment close to their hearts.

Zak went to college at Colorado State University in Fort Collins to study Global Environmental Sustainability. Throughout his time at CSU he was constantly thinking about what the intersection of agriculture and sustainability had to offer. Throughout his schooling, soil was the area that kept capturing his attention. With soil a major focus, Zak continued to wonder where his place in the world was and how he could make any changes to the current state of our climate. Before, throughout, and presently, Zak has worked with his family at their family foundation, the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation. Yes, there is an attachment to the word mighty, both Arrow and Zephyr are also the names of the dogs that Zak grew up with. At the foundation Zak and the board members focus on how they can help foster change for a more sustainable future.  

Not long after graduating, Zak and his wife Sarah were looking at where the next steps of their lives were going to take them and what they felt were the important facets of life. while throwing ideas around and thinking of how he could elicit change, Zak remembered all the fun that he had during childhood at his family farm and suggested that they could jump into ranching and see what was possible. Zak and Sarah started to look at places to move and decided that moving back to Montrose Colorado where Sarah was born seemed like the best fit. While on the property hunt, there was a place in the Cimarron valley that caught their eyes. They went to visit the land during a wintery drive in the mountains and realized that the pictures on the reality site painted a different picture than what they were looking for. As it was winter, and the road was snowy and drifted on each side they continued down the road unable to turn around. When they got to the only available turn around, they noticed a small for sale sign in the driveway. That evening they looked at that realtor site and fell in love with the house and everything that came with it. Soon after the wheels were turning, and they purchased the property and took the leap into ranching with a keen eye to what was possible with regenerative agriculture.

When not working at the ranch, Zak enjoys spending time outside. Hunting or fishing Zak enjoys exploring the natural world around where he calls home. You can find Zak and Sarah on horseback together in the mountain’s ether gathering cows, out for a leisurely ride or getting into a faraway fishing hole. Zak and Sarah both enjoy traveling, so when the opportunity presents itself, they like to get away and explore what the world and other cultures has to offer. One of Zak’s favorite things is figuring out how to solve problems, this makes the day to day running of a ranch something that he enjoys. So as little as he seems to get away from the ranch, he is still loving life every day.