Governor Polis, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and Great Outdoors Colorado announced $9.99 million in grants December 15 to 19 regional coalitions implementing Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy. The grants—first of five annual cycles totaling $50 million—fund projects for “climate-resilient conservation,” wildlife habitat protection, trail closures, and coordination infrastructure across the state.
The largest awards went to permanent land restrictions and habitat restoration. Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust received $2.5 million for an 18,000-acre conservation easement in Eagle County protecting land with “high climate resilience value.” Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance received $2.5 million to “restore 300 acres within Dome Rock State Wildlife Area to improve bighorn sheep habitat” and build trail segments around Pikes Peak. Outside 285 received $1.6 million for trail restoration near Mount Silverheals protecting “critical wildlife habitat and water resources.”
Other grants fund coalition operations and planning. NoCo Places received $560,000 to assess 345 miles of user-created trails for closure or restoration. Gunnison STOR received $225,000 for “wildlife crossing planning” and agricultural gates “to reduce conflicts between recreation and ranching.” Routt Recreation received $389,000 for “summer stewardship crews.” San Luis Valley coalition received $394,000 to “convert 12 miles of fence to wildlife-friendly fencing, helping big game move through critical winter habitat.”
Smaller grants build coordination capacity. Metro Denver Nature Alliance received $160,000 to “complete its Regional Vision for People and Nature.” Montelores Coalition received $300,000 to “finalize a regional recreation and conservation plan” and launch a “conservation and recreation strike team.” Wet Mountain Valley Outdoors received $75,000 for “community outreach to create a long-term vision.” Northeast Colorado Regional Partnership received $150,000 for “facilitation, cross-county outreach and engagement, and the development of a governance structure.” CPW received $200,000 to “support regional partnerships with facilitation and other services.”
The grants implement Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy released April 2025. The strategy establishes “coordinated planning and funding” for “climate-resilient conservation” addressing “population growth and impacts from climate change,” according to DNR Executive Director Dan Gibbs. Governor Polis, CPW Acting Director Laura Clellan, GOCO Executive Director Jackie Miller, and Gibbs jointly announced the grants. CPW and GOCO committed $50 million over five years to the Regional Partnerships Initiative.
CCALT’s $2.5 million grant demonstrates how the coordination works. CCALT was founded in 1995 by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association but operates as a separate nonprofit funded through GOCO lottery proceeds and federal programs, not cattlemen’s dues. The organization partners with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, and Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. Multiple CCALT easements explicitly “support Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s long-term wildlife management objectives.”
Conservation easements are permanent deed restrictions binding all future owners. They prevent subdivision and development, restrict mineral extraction, require water rights remain with land, and can restrict agricultural practices. Landowners receive cash payments and tax credits up to 100 percent of adjusted gross income. The easement holder enforces restrictions through court action.
Art Hutchinson’s fifth-generation ranch near Salida signed CCALT easements on 650 acres in 2011 and 2013 for tax credits capped at $750,000. By 2025, surrounded by soaring land values and costs, Hutchinson sought to host a camping festival for revenue. No structures. No fires. Parking outside pivot sprinklers.
CCALT’s board—majority ranchers—denied permission. The event was “not compatible with the easement terms.”
“Our values are in alignment with Colorado Cattlemen’s, but what is not in alignment are the values needed to keep this ranch going,” Hutchinson told the Colorado Sun in June. “The money is running out. There are not many farms in this nation that last past four generations. There’s a reason for that.”
CCALT works with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies using “monitoring data and the Partners in Flight Species Assessment Database and Colorado State Wildlife Action Plan” to identify “priority species that will benefit from the land being enrolled.” GOCO awarded $100,000 in 2024 to staff CCALT’s Del Norte office. Previous grants funded Saguache Creek corridor conservation protecting “important habitat for rare and endangered species.”
The coordination pattern extends beyond CCALT. Nicole Rosmarino—who founded Southern Plains Land Trust to convert agricultural land back to native prairie—now directs the State Land Board controlling 3 million acres of state trust land. Jay Tutchton serves simultaneously as CPW Commissioner, GOCO board member, and Southern Plains Land Trust general counsel. Appointed officials create policy priorities, fund organizations implementing those priorities, and approve grants to themselves.
Representative Julie Fedorak of North Dakota introduced legislation limiting easements to 30 years with renegotiation rights. South Dakota Stockgrowers wrote that “perpetual easements infringe on the private property rights of future generations.” Both proposals face long odds in Congress.
About 800 of Colorado’s 4,200 conservation easements had tax credits denied years after signing, with landowners billed for credits already received. A lawsuit alleges “many families losing their homes, lands, and livelihoods.” Representative Jerry Sonnenberg noted these were “second-, third- or fourth-generation small family farmers and ranchers” who cannot reclaim land control even after repaying credits.
Since 1995, Colorado spent $1.1 billion on conservation easements. CCALT holds 820,000 acres across 400 families—more than any other Colorado land trust.
Corwin Brown, a CCALT advisory committee member, warned: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
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