Keep It Colorado Awards $247,015 in Grants to Help Land Trusts Conserve Land in Six Counties

Nov. 4, 2021 – DENVER – The nonprofit coalition Keep It Colorado will award $247,015 in grants to help five Colorado land trusts complete conservation projects in 2022. With this assistance, land trusts will enable landowners to cover the high costs of voluntarily conserving properties in perpetuity. Their conservation activities will protect thousands of acres of land that would otherwise be at imminent risk of being sold, subdivided or converted to other uses.

Projects were evaluated based on how well they advance the pace and scale of conservation; create connectivity or adjacency across critical landscapes; expand conservation across diverse geographic areas; and leverage the state’s conservation easement tax credit.

Five land trusts will be awarded grants totaling up to $50,000 for each of the following projects:

Abell Ranch – Palmer Land Conservancy: This iconic Front Range ranch is located along the South Platte River in Park County. Transaction cost assistance will help the landowner, a longtime conservation advocate, permanently protect this sustainable ranching operation and all the property’s features including wetlands; critical habitat for wildlife, plant life and aquatic life; livestock grazing; and public-access fly fishing.

Bramwell Valley Ranch – Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust: This working ranch is located near Pagosa Springs in Archuleta County and is surrounded by public lands. Conservation will protect it from subdivision. The land, and the Navajo River which flows through it, serves as habitat for bald eagle, Townsend’s big-eared bat, river otter, black bear and mountain lion. It is also heavily used by mule deer and elk, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife identifies it as a migration corridor and highway crossing.

Custer Wash South – Colorado Open Lands: Located next to Genesee Park in Jefferson County, this property is rich with ponderosa pine, mixed conifer, meadow and wetlands, and provides connected, year-round habitat for black bear, elk, mountain lion and mule deer. Conservation will ensure perpetual protection of these connected lands and continue to treat recreational users of the nearby Beaver Brook Trail to the scenic views they have long enjoyed.

Edgerton Creek Ranch – Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust: Located along Edgerton Creek in Garfield County, this family ranch is part of a larger wildlife corridor and features wildlife grazing habitat, natural springs and scenic open space. Conservation of it will keep it in production and provide perpetual habitat for bald eagle, cutthroat trout and big-game species such as black bear, elk, moose, mountain lion, and mule deer, while continuing to support the Roaring Fork Valley’s rural economy.

Olander Farm – Colorado Open Lands: This fourth-generation family farm is in an agricultural greenbelt between Loveland and Berthoud in Larimer County. The Olanders grow barley and run the Root Shoot Malt House, which provides malted grains to over 100 breweries in Colorado. The farm is part of a larger conservation effort to protect irrigated farmland in one of the most rapidly growing counties in Colorado, with a unique vision that includes water-sharing options with neighboring municipalities and water providers.

Ancient juniper at Weaselskin, La Plata County

Sacramento Creek Community Conservation Project (Phase 2) – Mountain Area Land Trust: Located in Fairplay in Park County, this set of multiple ranch properties connects to over 100,000 acres of the Pike National Forest. The area features highly visible open space, wetlands, and critical habitat for the endangered boreal toad as well as moose. The project enhances connectivity to public lands and supports the local community in its larger conservation effort to limit mining and other development threats.

Weaselskin Institute – La Plata Open Space Conservancy: Located near Durango and overlooking the Animas River in La Plata County, this set of properties features irrigated agricultural land, a small equestrian center, and pinon-juniper uplands that are home to undisturbed archeological sites. Conservation of this area will protect its cultural and agricultural resources and numerous species of wildlife, birds and reptiles, while providing public access.

In total, the selected projects will help conserve more than 1,864 acres of land and leverage more than $6.6 million in tax credits through the state’s conservation easement tax credit program.

“Conservation has a steep price tag, and our program eases those costs for landowners who have voluntarily chosen to protect the lands and waters that mean so much to Colorado,” said Melissa Daruna, Keep It Colorado’s executive director.

Keep It Colorado received $256,965 in grant requests, exceeding the amount of funding available. “We’ve seen the high demand for assistance, and that will only continue to grow. We intend to help meet that demand,” Daruna added.

Last spring, Keep It Colorado re-granted $269,900 to land trusts that planned to close conservation projects this fall. Read about those outcomes here.

Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO)’s Resilient Communities Program provided generous funding that allowed Keep It Colorado to develop this regrant program. Read the press release.

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