Delta County Independent, July 12, 2022—Colorado West Land Trust (CWLT) recently announced that it has partnered with the Lazo family to conserve 146 acres of wildlife habitat in Delta County’s Fruitland Mesa area.

Fruitland Mesa is a plateau between the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River’s canyon to the north and Red Canyon to the south. Standing on it, one can see the West Elk Mountains to the east, Black Canyon of the Gunnison to the south, and Gunnison Gorge to ...

Montrose Daily Press, May 28, 2022—For five generations, the Campbell family has ranched along the North Fork Valley floor between Hotchkiss and Paonia, tending to hay crops and cattle — and by extension, preserving riparian areas, woods, meadows that strongly contribute to the scenic value of the entire area.

Those values are now formally protected.

The Colorado West Land Trust and the Campbells completed a conservation easement for 410 acres or ranchland at the end of April.

Easements, which are a voluntary agreement ...

The Daily Sentinel, May 23, 2022—The Colorado West Land Trust has announced 410 acres of ranch land south of Colorado Highway 133 between Hotchkiss and Paonia in Delta County will now be conserved via a conservation easement.

According to a press release, the Campbell Ranch is one of the largest intact ranches in that area, and includes hay fields, pastures, scrubland, forests, wetlands and 1.25 miles of the North Fork River.

The Daily Sentinel, December 11, 2021—Trail-building, watershed restoration and riverside improvements will occur locally thanks to a combined $132,930 in conservation service corps grants awarded to four projects in Mesa County.

The Great Outdoors Colorado board approved the grants Thursday, as part of more than $6 million in new funding to support 38 projects across the state focused on things such as land acquisition and stewardship, planning efforts and community access to the outdoors and planning efforts. The money comes from ...

The Daily Sentinel, December 7, 2021—A collaborative effort between landowners and partnering agencies has given many the opportunity to cut a Christmas tree on private land in the Glade Park Area.

On Dec. 2, Mesa County cut its Christmas tree from the conserved Ladder Canyon Ranch. The county’s tree-cutting event was part of a larger, multi-year effort by Colorado West Land Trust and the owners of Ladder Canyon Ranch to reduce wildfire risk, improve wildlife habitat, connect kids to nature, and ...

The Daily Sentinel, September 9, 2021—When the Monument Connector Trail was completed in early 2020, there were plans to support the paved path from the riverfront to the Lunch Loops Trailhead with a group of volunteers. Then COVID-19 hit.

Libby Collins, Western Colorado Land Trust [sic] project manager, said at first they had to shut down volunteer programs, but the Monument Stewards, the group’s name, were able to figure out a way to get the plans back on track.

“The pandemic hit, ...

The Daily Sentinel, March 17, 2021–Colorado West Land Trust was the beneficiary of a large grant from Great Outdoors Colorado on Tuesday.

The GOCO board awarded a $133,700 grant to the land trust to support added staff capacity as the community and organization responds to the pandemic.

A recent merger expanded CWLT’s service area to six counties, including Delta, Gunnison, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray, and San Miguel, which required more staff to adequately support the area’s public and private conserved lands.

This grant is ...