for conservation and stewardship projects in Huerfano County
courtesy Diane Metzger
HUERFANO — On Dec. 8 the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) board awarded $83,300 to two projects in Huerfano County. One grant will support Colorado Open Lands’ permanent protection of Manzanares Creek Ranch, and the other will help the City of Trinidad decrease fire risk and enhance trails in Huerfano and Las Animas Counties.
The first grant is part of Keep It Colorado’s Transaction Cost Assistance Program (TCAP), which re-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.
A $50,000 grant will help Colorado Open Lands conserve the 500-acre Manzanares Creek Ranch located at the confluence of Manzanares Creek and the Huerfano River along the northern slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in western Huerfano County. The property connects parcels managed by the Bureau of Land Management into a large, contiguous landscape of public and protected private lands extending all the way to the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness and Great Sand Dunes National Park.
The evergreen forests, wetlands, piñon-juniper woodlands, aspen and cottonwood groves, and meadows of the property provide excellent habitat for numerous species including elk, mule deer, bighorn, black bear, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, mountain lion, pika, snowshoe hare, cutthroat trout, golden eagle, Hernandez’s short-horned lizard, and numerous bats including big brown bat, little brown myotis, and Townsend’s big-eared bat.
The second grant is part of GOCO’s Conservation Service Corps program. GOCO partners with Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA) to employ conservation service corps crews across the state on outdoor recreation and stewardship projects. CYCA represents a statewide coalition of eight accredited corps that train youth, young adults, and veterans to complete land and water conservation work and gain professional skills.
With its $33,300 grant, the City of Trinidad will partner with Mile High Youth Corps-Southern Front Range crews for fire mitigation on one mile of trail within the Purgatoire North Fork Trail System and on three acres of land adjacent to the USFS Purgatoire Roadside Site. In addition, crews will work on one mile of trail work at the Beaver Explorer Trail and at another trail located west of it. The project will be completed over three weeks in which crews will participate in skill-building tasks, training, education, and rewarding outdoor stewardship experiences.
To date, GOCO has invested more than $4 million in projects in Huerfano County and partnered to conserve 9,153 acres of land there. GOCO funding has supported Lathrop State Park and Visitors Center, the protection of Redwing Ranch, and the Huerfano Community Sports Complex, 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.
