Salida-based Central Colorado Conservancy honored with CPW Southeast Region Partners in the Outdoors Award for conserving the land, water and wildlife
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. – The Central Colorado Conservancy, headquartered in Salida, has been honored with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southeast Region Partners in the Outdoors Award for 2019. The award was announced at the annual Partners in the Outdoors conference on April 25 in Breckenridge. The Conservancy was nominated by CPW’s Rob White, park manager of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area (AHRA). Accepting the award on behalf of the Conservancy was Andrew Mackie, executive director. The Central Colorado Conservancy is a nonprofit group founded in 2001 and dedicated to conserving the land, water and wildlife by partnering with landowners, agricultural producers and residents in Lake, Chaffee, Fremont, Park, Saguache and Gunnison counties. In his nomination, White praised the Conservancy for its many years of partnering with CPW and the AHRA “to help meet our mutual goals of protecting, restoring and providing access” to open spaces and the Arkansas River.
“The Central Colorado Conservancy has become the go-to entity for a number of organizations, agencies and individuals in Lake, Chaffee and Fremont County for conservation and habitat restoration-related projects,” White said.
White listed a number of projects the Conservancy partnered with CPW and AHRA to complete. An example is their collaboration to protect the Reddy and Paddock State Wildlife Areas in Lake County. The Conservancy holds the conservation easement on the 175-acre private property while CPW holds a public access easement.
In another case, the Conservancy and CPW co-hold the conservation easement on the 507-acre Chubb Park Ranch State Wildlife Area in Chaffee County. This property is open to public hunting.
“By preserving ranchland, wildlife habitat and waterways, the Central Colorado Conservancy has proven to be a friend and valued partner to CPW and AHRA,” White said. “The Conservancy doesn’t just buy property. It does the hard work of restoration on land and watershed health programs. It is creating a true legacy of conservation that helps CPW and all residents of Colorado.”
CPW is an enterprise agency, relying primarily on license sales, state parks fees and registration fees to support its operations, including: 41 state parks and more than 350 wildlife areas covering approximately 900,000 acres, management of fishing and hunting, wildlife watching, camping, motorized and non-motorized trails, boating and outdoor education. CPW’s work contributes approximately $6 billion in total economic impact annually throughout Colorado.