By Will Shafroth
October 30, 2005  

And what kind of legacy do we want to leave our grandchildren and their grandchildren?

For most of us, it's actually a matter of both what we want and don't want.

Most of us want to make sure that the beautiful views of the mountains along the Front Range remain beautiful. What we don't want is industrial and housing development obstructing and spoiling this view that so defines our state.

We want to maintain the distinction between our communities, just as the preservation of the Greenland Ranch has accomplished in southern Douglas County. What we don't want is a continuous city between Fort Collins and Pueblo.

What we want are healthy working ranches and farming communities in this state. What we don't want is for ranchlands to be chopped up into 35-acre subdivisions, rendering them useless for agriculture and wildlife.

What we want is to maintain the rich diversity of Colorado's wildlife. What we don't want is for our elk, wild trout and bald eagles to be diminished because their habitats have been compromised.

But we need to act now if we are to keep what we want and stave off what we don't.

In the last 35 years, Colorado's population has grown from 2.2 million to 4.7 million. That number is expected to top 7 million in the next 25 years. The development footprint on the state has increased from 1.3 million acres in 1970 to 2.5 million acres in 2000 and is expected to top 3.5 million acres by 2030.

Growth in Colorado is inevitable; the challenge is to intelligently accommodate growth and still preserve what we cherish.

The Colorado Conservation Trust recently released "Colorado Conservation at a Crossroads," the most comprehensive analysis of land preservation ever undertaken in the state.

The results are impressive and provocative. Colorado is a national leader in land conservation and we have much to be proud of: Forty-six non-profit land preservation organizations and 40 community open space programs have protected 1.6 million acres of open space throughout the state. This was accomplished with public and private funding, state and federal tax incentives and the generosity of landowners.

Looking forward, the report found that the collective goal of these organizations and open space programs is to protect 2 million acres in the next decade. That is clearly ambitious. It is attainable, however, if we overcome four major obstacles: insufficient funding; lack of statewide priorities; inadequate and uneven capability to undertake conservation projects; and conservation tools that are too few and too weak.

Our analysis found a $1.2 billion gap between what is available and what is needed to meet the 10-year goal. The gap is even worse because, while the funding need is statewide, 77 percent of future local public funds will be concentrated in just seven Front Range counties. Another 27 counties have no public funding source of any kind. Great Outdoors Colorado, the primary statewide public funding source, can only fund one of every three applications it receives. And private giving for land conservation is very low. Even though more than 70 percent of Coloradans consistently express support for land conservation, only 1 percent of charitable giving is directed toward these efforts.

To address this challenge, the trust recommends: increasing statewide public funding by $50 million to $75 million per year; increasing private conservation funding from individuals, foundations and corporations by $10 million to $25 million per year; and expanding dedicated revenues at the local level. Coloradans have shown that they are willing to fund open space protection. When local open space funding measures are put on the ballot, they are approved more than 75 percent of the time, and no measure to extend an existing open space tax has ever failed.

But money by itself cannot meet this challenge. It is also important that all of us work smarter and more efficiently. We need to focus the limited human and financial resources in the state if we are to meet the 2 million acre goal.

To that end, the trust recommends that conservation leaders establish a set of priorities that takes into account the diversity of land types that need protection. These include agricultural land, community separators, lands that provide access to recreational areas, river corridors, scenic lands and wildlife habitat.

While many non-profit land conservation groups and local governments have done a superb job, many others don't have sufficient staffing or professional experience to meet future conservation needs.

The trust recommends bringing more expertise to the organizations and regions of the state where a gap exists between need and capacity.

And finally, the trust recommends refining and adding to the tools Colorado has to maximize conservation opportunities. Colorado's Conservation Easement Tax Credit Program - an innovative and effective land conservation program - needs some important refinements to ensure that public benefits and conservation values are maximized. In addition, public policies related to the authority of local governments to review development of lots larger than 35 acres often hinder a community's ability to conserve land, and counties need the option to review these developments.

These recommendations range from ambitious to modest and, when taken together, they could make a significant difference in achieving the 2 million acre goal.

Colorado is at a crossroads. The next 10 years will define the face of our state. Our actions in this decade will be our legacy for the future. We have the ability to preserve part of what's special about Colorado so that our grandchildren and their grandchildren will be able to enjoy what we value most about our state.

The Colorado Conservation at a Crossroads report can be found at www.coloradoconservationtrust.org.

Will Shafroth is executive director of the Colorado Conservation Trust