DENVER
– Today the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) board awarded a
$40,000
grant to Colorado Cattlemen's
Agricultural Land Trust
(CCALT) through the nonprofit coalition Keep It Colorado to permanently protect Lower Howard Creek Ranches in
Fremont County
.
The grant is part of Keep It Colorado's
Transaction Cost Assistance Program
(TCAP), which grants
GOCO
funds to nonprofit land trusts to help cover the costs associated with conservation easement transactions. It enables landowners who have urgent opportunities to conserve their properties, but who face financial barriers to facilitating the transaction, to conserve land more quickly.
The ranches share boundaries with large areas of land managed by the
Bureau of Land Management
that connect to the
San Isabel National Forest
and the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. Approximately 75 acres of the property have been identified by
The Nature Conservancy's
Resilient and Connected Network as being resilient to climate change; allowing species to disperse, migrate, and adapt to a changing climate; and having high biodiversity, which signals ecosystem health.
The agricultural character of the multigenerational ranches and the senior water rights tied to the
property will be protected in the future. To date,
GOCO
has invested more than
$5.1 million
in
projects in
Fremont County
and partnered to conserve 3,513 acres of land there.
GOCO
funding has supported stewardship work at
Fremont County Campground
and Trail, the
Rouse Park
playground, and the
Taylor-Oswald Ranch
conservation easement, among other projects.
Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) invests a portion of
Colorado Lottery
proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state's parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces.
GOCO's
independent board awards competitive grants to local governments and land trusts and makes investments through Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Created when voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1992,
GOCO
has since funded more than 5,600 projects in all 64 counties of Colorado without any tax dollar support. Visit GOCO.org for more information.
