The Mesa County Community Separator Project is an award-winning, public-private partnership that protects transition areas, or “buffer zones”, between the fast-growing communities of Grand Junction, Fruita, and Palisade.  Mesa Land Trust coordinates the conservation easement acquisition component of this project, working with project partners Mesa County, Fruita, Grand Junction, and Palisade to protect the high-quality farmland and wildlife habitat that exists in these areas.

The goal of this project is to prevent the Grand Valley from becoming an unbroken stream of development from Palisade to Fruita.  As of 2014, the program has protected 44 properties and over 1400 acres in the two buffer zones.

For more information on the Buffer Program, please contact Ilana Moir.