Do you ever wonder what motivates a
landowner to conserve their property? Do you want to learn more about
some of the farmers and ranchers we work with everyday? Read
here about Penny Kelly, one of our generous landowners and
the story behind her Glade Park Ranch, some history, and why she feels so
strongly about protecting the ranch. Flyer provided by the Colorado
Coalition of Land Trusts.
Mesa Land Trust
Hosted John Fielder
In November MLT hosted renowned photographer John Fielder
for a slideshow and talk. The event
gathered over 180 people from our community and everyone enjoyed a slideshow
of beautiful conserved ranches in the state, followed by a book-signing and
meet and greet with John Fielder. In 2007 and 2008 renowned photographer John Fielder
traveled to 50 of Colorado’s most scenic working ranches. The result was
his most recent work, Ranches of Colorado, a 235 page book containing
375 photographs of Colorado’s ranches.
Photograph from Ranches of Colorado,
copyright John Fielder, 2009
Thank you to our generous underwriters! Lead underwriters
Moody Valley Insurance and Allied
Insurance, and underwriters Safari Ltd and Atlasta Solar Center.
Click
the link above to read more in-depth about our recent easements,
celebrations and new programs.
Launching the 1% for Conservation Program
With Talbott Farms and
Rapid Creek Cycles
leading the way, Mesa Land Trust launched a 1% for Conservation Program in
Palisade, late last year. The program, a partnership with local businesses,
provides the opportunity for customers to voluntarily add one percent of
their transaction total for donation to the Land Trust. 1% for Conservation
is designed to raise funds earmarked for land conservation work in the
Palisade area. By giving customers the opportunity to contribute a few
cents on each purchase to fund conservation, they can be part of an effort
that will potentially invest thousands of dollars toward preservation of the
region’s scenic lands and rich agricultural heritage. The
Palisade Café and
Grille recently became the third business to support Palisade area
agriculture by joining the 1% for Conservation Program.
Mesa Land Trust Celebrates 3,700 acre Conservation
Agreement on Lobe
Creek and Leslie Place Ranches
Six decades ago, Maxine Aubert came to high country
atop Pinyon Mesa in Western Colroado as a new bride and camp cook for
the sheep ranching outfit run by her husband’s family. In mid- August
she and her family
celebrated the completion of a
conservation agreement with the Mesa Land Trust that ensures permanent
protection of 3,700 acres on the Lobe Creek and Leslie Place
ranches. Joining the festivities were officials from the Division of
Wildlife, private conservation groups, and sportsmen. The celebration culminated four years of work by the
Mesa Land Trust, Aubert and Hawks families, and the Colorado Division of
Wildlife, to complete conservation easements on the ranches, which sit high
above Unaweep Canyon and provide important habitat for big game species,
species listed in the Colorado SWAP (State Wildlife Action Plan) and over 3
miles of riparian habitat. The Division of Wildlife and Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation provided funding for the project, with the landowners making a
significant donation of easement value.
In addition to celebrating this conservation success, the Colorado
Conservation Partnership (CCP) honored and thanked Mesa Land Trust for their
dedication to work on Glade Park and in Mesa County, with a donation to the
Land Trust.
Over 70 friends and guests enjoyed a
wonderful evening under the Palisade stars at Mesa Land Trust's
Dine
in the Vines dinner. On the lovely Red Fox Vineyard,
surrounded by conserved properties, guests dined on local food prepared by
Chef John Barbier of Le Rouge, drank wine paired by Carlson Vineyards and
Garfield Estates, enjoyed music by John Schultz, and bid on fine art
by photographer Malcom Childers and painters Charles Morris and George
Callison. Thank you to all who attended and who helped in making it a very
special evening, including hosts Ken and Kathryn Stubler at the Red Fox
Vineyards; Hoskin,
Farina & Kampf; CSD; Karen Madsen of Merrill Lynch; and all of our
wonderful Board, staff and volunteers. For more photos of the event
visit our
Flickr gallery.
Founders John & Doris
Butler retire from MLT Board after 29 years!
It
was a poignant evening at our monthly Board meeting when Mesa Land Trust
founder John Butler announced his retirement from the Mesa Land Trust Board.
In 1980 John and Doris Butler, with a handful of others, founded Mesa Land
Trust to help conserve the critical farm ground in Palisade. And at
that time, perhaps unbeknownst to them, they made a lifelong commitment.
Leading by example, the Butlers donated a conservation easement on their own
farm which now grows peaches. John spent at least 600 hours (that's 25
days!) attending Board meetings alone over the past 29 years...and that
doesn't include the countless hours he and Doris spent volunteering,
monitoring, accounting, and working on projects! Doris and John plan
to remain active with the Land Trust. We thank them for having the
foresight to establish Mesa Land Trust and the determination to help make
sure Mesa Land Trust enjoys the success that we do today. Thank you
John and Doris, from all of us, for all your dedication!
MLT Receives GOCO Grant
Mesa Land Trust
recently received a grant from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) for
conservation agreements on 3 contiguous farms in the Fruita buffer. The
acquisition of these agreements will add roughly 75 acres to 490 acres of
working farms and ranches already conserved between Grand Junction and
Fruita.Read more about the GOCO grants
on the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
State distributes grants for trails.
Buy Products from a Local Conserved Farm!
You can now find
local produce, meat,
and other
products all from local conserved ground! Landowners throughout
Colorado are now listed in a publication titled Bountiful Conservation: A guide to Colorado products and services from
conserved lands.
Use this
guide to find farms and ranches that offer the products and services you are
looking for, as well as supporting landowners who view conservation as a
high priority! Connect to the
Bountiful Conservation website,
or view a
pdf of the publication.
Mesa Land Trust's 2007-2008 Annual Report
Mesa Land Trust has
published it's 2007-2008 Annual Report. Please CLICK
HERE to view this report. If you want a copy of this
sent to you please call us at (970)263-5443.
Photos of
Our Annual Picnic Potluck
On Sunday we enjoyed
a beautiful day on Ute Valley Ranch, a conserved property on Glade Park.
Under sunshine and rolling clouds over 150 members, landowners and friends
joined us to celebrate and learn about the great conservation success we
enjoy in Mesa County. Thanks to all that attended and contributed to
the event.
Click here
to link to our Flickr page with photos of our Annual Picnic Potluck, and
please share the pictures with your friends and neighbors!
Mesa Land Trust Receives National Accreditation
On Tuesday April 7th,
Mesa Land Trust board of directors, staff, supporters, and members of the
press met in from of Mesa Land Trust's office at 1006 Main St. in Grand
Junction for the announcement that the Land Trust had recently received
accreditation from the National Accreditation Commission. With this
announcement the Land Trust can now display Accreditation Seal, which
assures the public that the land trust is operating an ethical, legal, and
technically sound manner.
Mesa Land Trust Partners With
Mesa County Libraries to Present Family Story Time Every Last Tuesday
of the Month
From 7:00 to 8:00 PM on
the last Tuesday of each month, Mesa Land Trust will sponsor Family
Story Time at the Mesa County Library Central
Branch Children’s Center. Former school teacher and
Land Trust board member Angelina Salazar will read to children and present
activities which will focus on conservation and the environment. There will
also be a list of suggested adult readings on the subject.
For more information,
please call Mesa Land Trust Development Officer, Mary Hughes, at 263.5443.
StoryCorps
Highlights founders of MLT: Fighting for Family Farms
This past year
StoryCorps hosted
interviews on Main Street in Grand
Junction. Amongst those telling their stories were Doris Butler and
Paula Anderson. In this interview they discuss the seeds for founding Mesa
Land Trust and the fight to save farms in and around Grand Junction.
Read the article
here.
About
Mesa Land Trust
Mesa Land Trust is a private, nonprofit land conservation organization based in
Mesa County in Western Colorado. We work to maintain the unique character,
agriculture and history of Mesa County through partnerships with voluntary
landowners, local governments, Mesa County, The Nature Conservancy and a variety
of outside funding agencies. We now hold over 130 conservation easements
and have conserved over 50,000 acres of land containing important orchards,
vineyards, cropland, large working ranches, and habitat for deer, elk and the
Gunnison Sage Grouse in addition to a variety of other species.
View
pictures of conserved properties, people, and events.
Become a
Fan on Facebook
Mesa Land Trust now
has a page on Facebook, a social networking site.
Click here to become fan of
Mesa Land Trust and see postings of
events, news, photos, and join in discussions with other fans about
conservation in our community.
Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook,
Inc.
Learn More About Conserved Properties
Here in Mesa County we have some beautiful vistas,
exceptional habitat and productive agricultural properties. We are all
fortunate that there are generous and concerned landowners who have donated
conservation easements on their properties. To learn more about some of these
properties, click
here.
Mesa Land Trust, 1006 Main
Street, Grand Junction, CO 81501
This site was last updated on
Monday February 08, 2010 by
Ilana