At the end of October our executive director, Melissa Daruna, traveled with Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) to Washington D.C. to talk about our work here at Keep It Colorado and conservation easements as a valuable land conservation tool. We attended a briefing with the House and Senate Agriculture Committee on Conservation Easements and the USDA’s Agricultural Conservation Easement program. Many thanks to the Land Trust Alliance for hosting the event.

In an effort to educate legislators about our work, we visited the offices of Colorado Senators Bennett and Gardner; Congressmen Crow, Neguse, and Perlmutter; and Congresswoman DeGette. We introduced Keep It Colorado and presented our goal for a more unified approach to land conservation around the state. We also talked about challenges associated with the State and Local Tax (SALT) for landowners donating conservation easements and the critical need to stop the syndicated easement deals taking place across the country. Here’s a shout-out to Senator Bennett and Congressmen Crow and Perlmutter for supporting a legislative fix – thank you!

Finally, we took this opportunity to network with other land trust associations and policy staff from Land Trust Alliance, and policy leadership from the Outdoor Industry Association and Outdoor Recreation Roundtable. All around, a very productive trip.

Group photo, left to right: Erik Glenn, CCALT; Maggie Hanna, CCALT; Melissa Daruna, Keep It Colorado; Gaspar Perricone, Freestone Strategies; John Braly, CCALT board of directors.