Conservation
News from around Colorado – June 2019
News and opportunities for working lands in Colorado Highlights SNOTEL Current Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) % of Normal Our river basins are seeing record amounts of water in the snow pack. The SWE map is updated daily and provides a visual estimate of the amount of water left in the snowpack. The SWE percent of…
Read MorePartners for Fish and Wildlife Program
Video courtesy of Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program Are you familiar with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program? It’s a great opportunity providing technical and financial support for private landowners interested in habitat restoration. Check it out! The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program is a voluntary habitat restoration program administered by the…
Read MoreConservation Finance Series – Final Thoughts
Conservation Finance Series—Part Eight of Eight By Jane Rice, WRA, Inc. and Ben Guillon, Conservation Investment Management This post concludes our conservation finance series, which has provided an overview of various ways landowners can get paid for implementing stewardship practices on their land. The series covered approaches ranging from conservation easements to carbon crediting and…
Read MoreFor western landowners, conservation & economics go hand-in-hand
The American West is unique in the amount and continuity of land and habitat it provides. Spanning across private and public boundaries, western working lands feed, water and fuel the nation while sustaining up to 80 percent of the region’s wildlife species. The next era of conservation must shape economic conditions and policies that actively…
Read MoreCase Study: Elk Glade Ranch
By guest contributor Kevin Alexander Watt, TomKat Ranch. In June, I visited Elk Glade Ranch near Colorado Springs, Colorado during a stewardship tour hosted by the Western Landowners Alliance. Elk Glade Ranch is owned and operated by the Johnson and Hammond families and is a remarkably diverse landscape and operation. The ranch is a beautiful,…
Read More2014 Farm Bill Expires: what does it mean and what’s next?
After more than a year of work by those most interested in passing an on-time Farm Bill – farmers, ranchers and advocacy groups interested in sustainable agriculture, conservation and forestry – the 2014 Farm Bill expired at midnight on September 30, 2018. The expiration marks the second time in a row that the Farm Bill…
Read MoreWater Rights for Restoration
Conservation Finance Series—Part Seven of Eight By Jane Rice and Ben Guillon, WRA, Inc., with guest contributor Bill Wombacher of Ryley Carlock & Applewhite. If you own water rights and are interested in selling or leasing them to restore stream flows and habitat, this article will help you navigate potential opportunities. The article includes an…
Read MoreCase Study: Flying Diamond Ranch
By guest contributor Kevin Alexander Watt, TomKat Ranch. This year, TomKat Ranch began a project to gather and share the stories of ranchers around the country seeing economic benefits from regenerative practices. As part of this work, I visited Flying Diamond Ranch in Kit Carson, Colorado for a stewardship tour hosted by the Western Landowners…
Read MorePayments for Watershed Services
Conservation Finance Series—Part Six of Nine By Jane Rice and Ben Guillon, WRA, Inc., with guest contributor Jeff Corbin of Restoration Systems, LLC. Payments for watershed services totaled $24.7 billion globally in 2015, according to a recent report, The Global Status and Trends of Payments for Ecosystem Services. Payments for watershed services dominate global environmental…
Read MoreCarbon Crediting
Conservation Finance Series—Part Five of Eight By Jane Rice and Ben Guillon, WRA, Inc., in collaboration with Josh Strauss and Ben Parkhurst, Bluesource LLC. This blog post is focused on land-based carbon crediting opportunities for forests and grasslands based on the relative maturity of the markets and our assumptions regarding WLA members’ interests. What is…
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