Keep It Colorado selected 11 photographers for their photos and narratives illustrating their connection to land, water and wildlife in Colorado. Their work will be celebrated at a “Colorado the Beautiful: A Tapestry of Photos” gallery exhibit in September. Submissions highlight the diversity and beauty of landscapes across the state and celebrate the unique relationships people have with Colorado’s places and spaces.

Keep It Colorado has received $3 million in grants from Great Outdoors Colorado. The funds will support programs that provide financial assistance to nonprofit land trusts for completing conservation projects, and that lead to more innovative, relevant and sustainable conservation opportunities.

On June 7, Colorado Governor Polis signed Condemned Conservation Easement Property Compensation (HB22-208) into law. The new law codifies valuation for conserved lands when they must be condemned, and ensures that the fair-market value of the property includes the value of the conservation easement.

Do you ever feel like someone is doing so much to protect the places you love in Colorado that you’re inspired to call them your hero? Now’s your chance to thank and honor that special someone. Nominate a person or organization that demonstrates an outstanding commitment to conserving land and water in Colorado.

We invite public agencies to join us and be part of the movement to advance land and water conservation. Membership enrollment for 2022 opens up February 1, and membership is eligible March 1, 2022-March 1, 2023. Photo: Pitkin County Open Space and Trails

The Fall 2021 edition of Saving Land Magazine features a story about using remote monitoring technologies - like satellite and aerial imagery - to monitor conserved lands. The story features our partners Colorado Open Lands and Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, as well as Keep It Colorado.

Keep it Colorado is accepting written proposals for a consultant who specializes in helping organizations make their work more inclusive of all communities by engendering a culture of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI).

Keep It Colorado has expanded its team with the addition of Raina Roanhorse, who joined the coalition as grant programs and administrative coordinator on September 1. Raina will support the nonprofit’s grant and regrant programs, which benefit the statewide coalition’s work to accelerate the pace and scale of private lands conservation.

Keep It Colorado and the Land Trust Alliance partnered to publish a study which shows that these technologies help land trusts reduce the costs, personnel hours and carbon emissions typically associated with observing and documenting changes to landscapes they have conserved. Several land trusts plan to add these technologies to their stewardship toolbox to be more efficient in their property monitoring activities in the future.

Keep It Colorado has published a case statement that tells the story of the Arkansas Basin and highlights a few ways our members can come together to conserve more land, protect more critical habitat, and have greater impacts on their communities across the basin.

The $10,000 investment comes from CPW’s Partners in the Outdoors Program, and supports Keep It Colorado’s Statewide Private Lands Conservation Plan. It complements funds we received from Great Outdoors Colorado and the Colorado Water Conservation Board in March.

Keep It Colorado has received $250,000 in funding to support the development of its Statewide Private Lands Conservation Plan. Investments include $175,000 from Great Outdoors Colorado’s Resilient Communities Program and $75,000 from the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s Water Plan Grant program.

Keep It Colorado has received $500,000 in grant funding from Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO)’s Resilient Communities Program. The investment will enable Keep It Colorado to develop and administer a program to assist land trusts and landowners in covering the costs of transactions associated with conservation easements in 2021.

Keep It Colorado is developing the Statewide Private Lands Conservation Plan, a collaborative plan that rallies land trusts and partners around a unified vision for the future of private lands conservation in Colorado. Because 60 percent of lands in Colorado are privately owned, they account for a significant portion of the state that needs protection.

Keep It Colorado is offering the opportunity for partners and supporters to sponsor our member events. Our Sponsorship Kit 2021 is now available! Learn about the benefits of sponsoring and what events are coming up in 2021.