March 1, 2019 | This year, the Collegiate Peaks Chapter of Trout Unlimited is joining Colorado Trout Unlimited in celebrating 50 years of protecting Colorado’s cold-water fisheries.

Founded in 1969, Colorado Trout Unlimited is the state’s leading nonprofit, nonpartisan organization providing a voice for Colorado’s rivers. Founded in 1984, the Collegiate Peaks Chapter is the oldest conservation organization in the Upper Arkansas River Valley.

April 30, 2019 | The Central Colorado Conservancy, headquartered in Salida, has been honored with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southeast Region Partners in the Outdoors Award for 2019. The award was announced at the annual Partners in the Outdoors conference on April 25 in Breckenridge.

April 29, 2019 | Four local organizations were nominated for Forest Service awards: Colorado Mountain Club was awarded the Leadership Award, Southwest Conservation Corps in the Cultural Diversity category, the Colorado Trail Foundation in the Enduring Service category and Central Colorado Mountain Riders in the Citizen Stewardship & Partnerships category.

March 13, 2019 | Matt Karkut, the new executive director at Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center in Durango, is looking to strengthen and expand programs and services as well as revamp the organization’s dated website.

“We are hoping to grow,” Karkut said. “We’ve always been a small organization, and we’d like to increase staff and provide more classes, programs and services for immigrants.”

April 3, 2019 | The county’s Recreation in Balance (RiB) leadership team gathered at the United States Forest Service (USFS) office in Salida April 2, to discuss the RiB program, a component of the Common Ground program funded by voters last November when ballot issue 1A passed. Cindy Williams, board president of the Central Colorado Conservancy (CCC), facilitated the meeting, which focused on the creation and rollout of the RIMS smartphone application and assessment criteria.

March 26, 2019 | Giving to nonprofits and residents in need through the Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado increased 20 percent in 2018, and that’s not even counting the $700,000 donated to help those affected by the 416 Fire.

Giving through the foundation totaled $3.17 million last year, which came from private residents, companies and private foundations. It also includes funds the foundation manages for other nonprofits.

March 4, 2019 | Trail-building season will begin this spring with $150,000 going toward the construction of three trails totaling 9 miles on Midland Hill near Buena Vista, thanks to a Colorado Parks and Wildlife grant.

February 28, 2019 | Trail building season will begin this spring with 150,000 more dollars going toward the construction of three trails totaling 9 miles of trails on Midland Hill thanks to a Colorado Parks and Wildlife grant announced last week. The project will also restore and close 1.5 miles of unauthorized trails.

February 28, 2019 | In the far western stretches of Socorro County, in the mountainous San Mateos, Cibola National Forest is preparing for another prescribed burn. Cibola National Forest’s Magdalena District Forest Ranger Kim Obele said the burn is needed to reduce dead and down woody debris from the forest floor, help restore the natural fire regime to the ecosystem, recycle nutrients, and increase wildlife habitat diversity.

“These treatments protect nearby communities by decreasing the amount material available to burn during a wildfire, lessening the overall impact to private and public land,” Obele said.

The first phase of a prescribed burn is clearing out fuel, in other words, small junipers, tiny Ponderosas and dead and down trees, all of which can make the burn uncontrollable.

February 12, 2019 | RiversEdge West captures the human spirit of riparian (riverside) restoration in their Riverside Stories series. In this video, we meet Emily Kasyon, Watershed Program Coordinator for the Southwest Conservation Corps. Emily dedicates her time to managing invasive plants like tamarisk along the stunning Dolores River in Colorado. She often finds herself overseeing conservation corps crew members who use chainsaws and herbicide to reduce invasive plant populations, as well as monitoring and reestablishing native plants along this river corridor for the benefit of the community and wildlife, alike. This work plays into a larger collaborative effort to restore the Dolores River's riparian ecosystem which is being led by the Dolores River Restoration Partnership and RiversEdge West.