Spring 2021 Newsletter
In February, Lori Weigel, MALT Board member and Principal of New Bridge Strategy presented the latest findings from Colorado College’s 11th annual State of the Rockies Conservation in the West poll to MALT guests in an online webinar. The annual poll showed a marked increase in levels of support for conservation, with voters in the Mountain West calling for bold action to protect nature as a new administration and Congress consider their public lands agendas.
The poll, which surveyed the views of voters in eight Mountain West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), found 61 percent of voters are concerned about the future of nature, meaning land, water, air, and wildlife. Despite trying economic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of concern for things like loss of habitat for fish and wildlife, inadequate water supplies, air and water pollution, the loss of pollinators, uncontrollable wildfires, and climate change outpaced the overall level of concern about unemployment. In Colorado the support for conservation is even more marked than the poll’s average.
Lori discussed a thread in poll results that voters feel they can have a robust economy while still protecting public lands, wildlife, air and water. “There’s a sense that we ought to be able to do both,” she said. She thinks there is a growing recognition that public lands hold not just enjoyment value but economic value through the outdoor recreation economy. Lori likewise thinks there’s a growing appreciation of, and concern for nature, and an increased sense that climate change is affecting people directly, with it combining with drought to contribute to wildfires.
For more information and to read the entire report click here. Colorado survey results below.
Red, White and Rose,
Sip Sip Hooray!
You are invited to join online with host Reggie Rivers, MALT Board and Staff, and special guest certified sommelier Montana Rae Neiley for “Sip and Savor the Land!” Wine tasting with a purpose!
In lieu of our signature summer event, A Night in the Park, please plan to sip and savor three exciting and delicious wines during our virtual guided wine experience. Tickets are $100 per household. Three bottles of wine exclusively chosen for MALT will be delivered to your home the week of the event. You will receive emails with details about the wines we will be tasting and suggested food pairings
Thursday, May 13th pre-party begins at 5:30 p.m. and the live program/wine tasting follows at 6:00 p.m. Learn more about MALT’s conservation work while you also learn about some fabulous wine!
Building Public Trails on MALT’s Sacramento Creek Ranch
Sacramento Creek Ranch in Fairplay serves as an important base of operations and an outreach center for MALT’s land and water conservation efforts in Park County. After a successful 2020 partnership with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) to extend and build an additional public trail on its property, MALT is embarking on a 2021 plan to complete Phase 2 of this project. MALT has been approved for two weekends of in-kind volunteer funded labor with VOC to improve and conduct maintenance on existing trails, and to build and complete a new trail in addition to what was completed last year. Over the course of two weekends, July 24 – 25 and August 21 – 22, VOC will host crews of up to 25 volunteers per day to work on the project. VOC volunteer opportunities for this project are opening soon! Visit the VOC website this spring to learn more about trail building on MALT’s SCR property!
And thanks to a generous Great Outdoors Colorado grant, MALT has been awarded three weeks of in-kind labor from the Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) (including youth groups and young adult chainsaw crews), a branch of the Colorado Youth Corps, to provide property stewardship support on SCR over the weeks of July 12-16 and July 19-23. This work will complement and also prepare for VOC’s trail work, as corps members will clear dead trees from trail corridors and prepare the property for VOC crews.
Meet Our New Board Members
Over the years, Katey Greene worked for various non-profits with a focus on policy and the environment where she was involved in public education, public speaking, marketing materials, advocacy work, project and team management, organizational leadership: The League of Conservation Voters, Save The Bay (R.I.), Vermont Public Interest Research Group, The Ocean Conservancy in Washington, DC and the Marine Debris Information Office at NOAA/EPA.
In Colorado, she worked in the late 90s as the welfare-to-work coordinator and business development manager at Goodwill Industries and most recently here in Evergreen as food bank assistant and nutrition educator at EChO. She is a Leadership Evergreen graduate and has served on its board, along with local non-profit Into Your Hands Africa. She also runs a private nutrition practice part time.
Katey is the mother of two college-age sons and likes to spend her time hiking, skiing, fly-fishing, biking and traveling with husband John.
Originally from St. Louis, Pat Meyer first moved to Colorado to attend the University of Denver where he received his undergraduate and law degrees. Pat’s legal and consulting career took him to a number of locations around the country, including Los Angeles, Washington DC and Chicago. Pat retired as a partner with the accounting and advisory firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2015, where he served in regional and national leadership roles in the firm’s human capital advisory practice.
Pat’s passion for education and the outdoors has guided his volunteer activities including serving as a district school board president in Illinois, and most recently as a member of the community board which oversees the operations of Beaver Ranch (a JeffCo Open Space park). Since moving to Conifer in 2016, Pat and his wife Ute have embraced mountain life, and can frequently be seen hiking, skiing, cycling and horseback riding, as well as spending time with their six adult children and three grandchildren.
Meet Our New Stewardship Director
Lisa Janeway joined the Mountain Area Land Trust in February, 2021. She moved west after receiving a B.S. in Environmental Geoscience from Boston College. Her career has been focused on the intersection of outdoor recreation and land conservation, working for organizations such as the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, Great Basin Institute, Tahoe Rim Trail Association, Colorado Mountain Club and The Wilderness Land Trust. She also holds a Master of Forestry degree from the University of British Columbia. Lisa has lived in the Front Range foothills since 2010 and is proud to be raising two mountain kids in Evergreen.
Your Tax Refund Can Support Conservation
Now you can use your tax refund to support the Mountain Area Land Trust! If you get a state income tax refund in 2021, you will have an opportunity to donate some or all of it to support MALT! The ReFUND CO initiative puts you in charge of where your donation goes. It’s as simple as 1,2,3!
1. Decide how much of your refund to donate.
2. Enter Mountain Area Land Trust and our registration number 20063007926 in the Donate to a Colorado Nonprofit Fund line on your state income tax return or tax software or just give this info to your tax preparer when you share your tax documents.
3. Smile knowing you’ve supported land and water conservation! Thank you!
Learn more about this program at RefundWhatMatters.org.
