Adam Beh, Central Colorado Conservancy, talked about a first-year pilot program that enables landowners to enter into a five-year conservation agreement in an effort to slow down the accelerated rates of land and resource conversion in Chaffee County.

Jeffrey Boring, Estes Valley Land Trust, and Jeremy Call, Logan Simpson, talked about how a small land trust helps balance competing land issues related to conservation, outdoor recreation, economic development and workforce housing, through a collaborative planning process.

Jessica Foulis, Eagle Valley Land Trust, presented about a strategic planning journey that involved collecting input from the community itself about what the next 40 years should look like - resulting in a strategic dashboard and a plan mapping out priorities for the next several decades.

Nicole Rosmarino, Southern Plains Land Trust, spoke about the carbon market as a creative strategy to improve the health of natural areas while addressing climate-related challenges - increasing the pace of conservation in Colorado while creating a self-sustaining financing mechanism.

Conor Hall, Trust for Public Land, discussed recent trends in local conservation funding and ballot initiatives with an emphasis on Colorado - addressing topics such as local open space tax initiatives, ballot measures to tackle climate solutions, and messages and conservation priorities that are landing with the electorate.

Rick Bachand, City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Dept, explored current and future challenges of open space management, especially in light of statewide population growth and record visitation in our recreational areas, as well as constant threat of wildfire.

Joelle Marier, Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust, shared a new food security program that helped deliver healthy meals to communities in need during the economic struggles of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the land trust’s collaboration with local agricultural producers to make it happen.

Travis Custer, Montezuma Land Conservancy, highlighted the need to address historic and ongoing participation in systems of oppression, and how the land trust is working with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Telluride Institute to create youth programing efforts and generate conversations around cross-cultural lands projects.