COLORADO HEADWATERS LAND TRUST NEWS RELEASE
Carse Pustmueller, Executive Director, 303-704-2064
carse@coloradoheadwaterslandtrust.org
Marie Hedrick, Marketing/Outreach, 970-281-9897
marie@coloradoheadwaterslandtrust.org
Colorado Headwaters Land Trust (Formerly Middle Park Land Trust)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 12, 2015
Colorado
Headwaters Land
Trust Celebrates 20
Years
Granby, CO – Colorado Headwaters Land Trust celebrates 20 years of preserving and stewarding
open lands within the headwaters of the Colorado River for vistas, wildlife, agriculture and water,
in partnership with landowners and for the benefit of all.
Incorporated as the Grand County Land Conservancy in late summer of 1995, the land trust
became Grand County’s first and only non-profit land conservation organization. The goal was
simple: to work with landowners to voluntarily protect their land to help ensure that Grand
County’s spectacular landscapes of the Colorado River and its headwaters tributaries endure
forever. Now, 20 years and 60 conservation easements later, 7,423 acres of spectacular scenic
views, wetlands, ranches and wildlife habitat have been protected.
In 2000 the name was changed to Middle Park Land Trust to avoid confusion that the land trust
was a government entity and in 2013 the name changed for a final time to Colorado Headwaters
Land Trust. “We wanted a name that would reflect our mission, our geographic focus, and the fact
that the Colorado River, including many of its headwaters tributaries such as the Fraser River,
begin in and flow through Grand County,” said Executive Director Carse Pustmueller. “From its
headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park, the Colorado River becomes the lifeblood of the
southwest as it flows through seven states on its way to the Gulf of California.”
The land trust’s primary land protection tool is the conservation easement, a voluntary binding
legal document between the landowner and the land trust that identifies the conservation values
that qualify a property for conservation purposes and permanently protects those values by
restricting development, subdivision and other non-compatible uses.
As Colorado Headwaters Land Trust matures into its 20’s, it is making great strides on its two
main projects: the Fraser River and Colorado River Initiatives. The land trust’s goal with these
initiatives is to acquire purchased or donated conservation easements along the Colorado and
Fraser Rivers that protect land and, when possible, tie water rights to the land in perpetuity.
Colorado Headwaters Land Trust recently acquired a conservation easement on the historic 662acre McElroy Ranch, located south of Kremmling at the confluence of the Colorado River, Muddy
Creek and the Blue River. The easement allows the McElroy family to continue to own and ranch
the land they have owned and stewarded for four generations. Funding from the Natural
Resources Conservation Service, Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and the Gates Family
Foundation was used to purchase a conservation easement on 548 acres of the ranch in 2014. In
2013, the McElroy family donated a conservation easement on the ranch’s remaining 114 acres.
Colorado Headwaters Land Trust also holds several conservation easements along the Fraser
River, including a critical 80-acre easement at the entrance to Fraser River Canyon that includes a
good stretch of the Fraser River.
“These properties will be protected in perpetuity, keeping the best of our open spaces open for the
benefit of everyone who lives and works in or visits Grand County,” said Pustmueller.
Colorado Headwaters Land Trust is a state certified land trust and is currently near the end of a
long process to become nationally accredited through the Land Trust Accreditation Commission,
an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. The land trust will submit its full application
in early September. “This year we have the staffing, the level of excellence and the confidence to
pursue accreditation,” said Pustmueller. “The accreditation process has been a top priority for
2015 and it has definitely strengthened our organization.”
The Commission invites public input on pending applications; comments must relate to how the
land trust complies with national quality standards and accreditation requirements. To learn more
about the accreditation program and to submit a comment, visit www.landtrustaccreditation.org.
Colorado Headwaters Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Anyone interested in
learning more about the land trust can visit www.coloradoheadwaterslandtrust.org or contact
Carse Pustmueller at 970-887-1177.
SIDEBAR: Join Colorado Headwaters Land Trust at its 20th Anniversary Celebration and
Fundraiser on Saturday, September 12 from 6-9pm at DaVinci Restaurant in downtown Winter
Park. To learn more and to purchase tickets, visit coloradoheadwaterslandtrust.org.
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