/\Pete McBride/courtesy photo
By Scott Condon | Post Independent
Aspen Valley Land Trust was created in 1967 as the Park Trust. Since than, it has placed conservation easements on more than 43,000 acres from Aspen to De Beque. That extinguishes or reduces development potential on land.
After conserving 43,000 acres of land between Aspen and De Beque over the past 52 years, Aspen Valley Land Trust is taking time to assess what to do next. Rest assured — saving more land is a big part of it.
The Carbondale-based land trust’s staff talked to more than 500 people in 2019 to find out what issues are important to them as the Roaring Fork Valley and Lower Colorado River Valley grow and evolve.
“If anyone is going to care about us in 20 years, we have to be relevant,” AVLT executive director Suzanne Stephens said about the public outreach. “We heard loud and clear that people want us to keep conserving land.”
Population growth, lack of affordable housing, climate change and preserving the rural heritage as well as wildlife habitat were other top issues AVLT heard about in “community listening sessions.”
