To help kick off the new year, we held a roundtable discussion with several of our public agency members, including a few guests – ranging from open space and city and county governments, to agencies at the state and federal levels. Many of you were able to make it – thank you! The meeting was graciously hosted by Jefferson County Open Space.

We heard about success stories and challenges, and we shared Keep It Colorado’s plans for the year as well as updates on our policy work. Here’s a brief summary of the conversation. (And before we forget, please fill out this brief survey to tell us how we did.)

Success stories: What’s going well?

• Hundreds of thousands of acres are getting conserved and habitats are getting restored!

• Some agencies are turning away from acquisition and focusing on maintenance and stewardship

• Agencies are exploring the role of land conservation and stewardship for carbon sequestration in light of climate change

• Long-term planning is prioritizing water as well as land acquisition

• New or reauthorized sales tax programs for open space are being unveiled

• RFPs are being designed for private land agencies to create more access to public land

• Visual impact analysis guidelines are being launched

• Projects are underway for native planting, pollination and soil health improvements

• Bond debts are being paid off

• Properties are being purchased in partnership with neighboring agencies

• Projects are being acquired and developed under the Land and Water Conservation Fund

• Innovation and idea-making is happening around building alternative trail routes and creating new state park sites

• New state parks like Fisher’s Peak/Crazy French Ranch are being celebrated

• Opportunities to blend conservation and public access are being explored, implemented and celebrated

Challenges

• Balancing Colorado’s population growth and the public’s desire for outdoor access with the need to preserve natural resources

• Numerous violations of conservation easements, with particular challenges around properties that have transferred ownership

• Lack of time and human resources to simultaneously develop relationships with landowners to help curb violations, and effectively continue stewardship and conservation work

• Limited or restricted budgets for conservation

 Opportunities

• Desire to connect and have more open relationships with the land trust community to discuss experiences and approaches related to conservation easements; problem-solve around common issues and challenges both agencies and land trusts are facing; coordinate efforts; and communicate with landowners using shared messages

• Interest in working more collaboratively with land trusts as well as seeking joint funding opportunities for land and water conservation

• Desire to create greater connections and engagement with communities through storytelling

 Additional conversation

• Agencies expressed an appreciation for some elements of the annual conference CCLT used to host. Conferences were an opportunity to discuss stewardship challenges and opportunities; hear land trusts’ “horror” stories about violations and solutions; draft conservation easements; and hear from conservation easement attorneys about ways to handle violations and navigate the legal process. The conference was also a valuable venue for face-to-face networking and connection among land trusts and public agencies.

• Keep It Colorado was encouraged to start attending the regional open space consortium meetings and the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s Basin Roundtable meetings statewide.

• Agencies find Keep It Colorado’s policy focus helpful.

 Keep It Colorado’s take-aways:

• We see a lot of opportunities for greater alignment, connection and partnership between our coalition’s public agencies and land trust members, and we’re in a position to help foster more of that through our bi-annual summits, regional meetings and other convenings.

• We heard input about the specific value people found in the CCLT conference, and as a result we’re shifting the focus of one of our sessions at the Spring Summit in April.

• We will seek more opportunities to elevate our public agency members’ work more and foster greater connections with other conservation initiatives across the state.

We appreciated this opportunity to hear from you. Thank you again to those who came, and we look forward to continuing the conversation!