April 16, 2019 | During last year’s First Mesa Annual Clean-up event residents from Polacca, Arizona, picked up and hauled away over 10 tons of trash that was cleared from the sides and top of the mesa and around their homes.

The cleaning on the mesa top went fairly quickly, but when concentrated efforts moved to the sides of the mesa, clean-up efforts almost came to a complete standstill directly behind Tewa Village. Years of illegal dumping over the sides revealed layers of trash almost three feet deep in some areas.

April 16, 2019 | In the Grand Canyon’s 100th year anniversary as a national park, there is another cause for celebration. Nissan today revealed the Ultimate Parks TITAN, a purpose-built park support vehicle that will be donated to the Grand Canyon Conservancy through Nissan TITAN’s partnership with the National Park Foundation.

The Ultimate Parks TITAN will be used to assist the organization’s Canyon Field School, a partnership between Grand Canyon Conservancy and the National Park Service that offers unique opportunities for youth to experience the great outdoors in the heights and depths of Grand Canyon National Park. Also through Nissan TITAN’s support, the Arizona Conservation Corps becomes a grantee of the National Park Foundation and will work to repair trails and park infrastructure at Grand Canyon National Park this summer.

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 11, 2019 | Young people searching for work can often get stuck because they lack a powerful network of adults to advise them and connect them with ideas and opportunities. A major new national campaign that launched this week aims to help young people make those connections.

Led by the America's Promise Alliance, which long has focused on high school graduation issues, the "YES Project"—short for Young, Employed and Successful—brings together more than 450 organizations across the country that work in education, business, philanthropy, and youth development. The idea is that they'd all contribute to a brain trust to help young adults develop the skills, connections, and support to find—and succeed in—jobs.

April 8, 2019 | "One of the many remarkable actualities about a hike in the Picture Canyon Natural and Cultural Preserve is the ever-present opportunity to be awed by wildlife. I've been surprised by elk sightings there, but the time I witnessed a herd of 10 - six of which being fawns - moving quietly through the woods was a truly marvelous moment."

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.

April 1, 2019 | Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold has declared April 2, 2019, as National Service Recognition Day in Beckley. “National Service is a vital resource for Beckley," Rappold said Monday at his office as he made the proclamation. “AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers make our counties better places to live.

"As mayor of Beckley, I am grateful for the dedication and sacrifice of these exceptional citizens, who are helping make Beckley stronger, safer and healthier."

Rappold joined thousands of other local leaders across the county who are part of a national, bipartisan effort to highlight the impact of national service in tackling local problems, according to April Elkins Badtke, Interim Executive Director of Stewards Individual Placement Program.

March 13. 2019 | Students can be very impactful in advancing interest in what they care about. They provide unfiltered, thoughtful and heartful opinions delivered with passion. This is what happened at the recent Preserve America Youth Summit held in Washington, DC March 11-13, 2019 in a Summit funded in part by the State Historical Fund, a program of History Colorado.

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.