San Isabel welcomes staff hydrologist Valda Terauds and new board members Annie Overlin and Steve Oswald.

By Valda Terauds, San Isabel Hydrologist

In response to the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District’s proposed augmentation plan, I submit that the community’s problem with this plan is not a “lack of understanding.” The problem is that the plan does not include protecting the local aquifer that provides water to many rural residents in the Wet Mountain Valley.

You make it possible to keep this region wild and beautiful, with abundant wildlife, productive agriculture, flowing water and thriving rural communities. 

Are you facing a required minimum distribution from your traditional IRA? A qualified charitable distribution could help you reduce your taxable income.

With a qualified charitable distribution, you can exclude from taxable income any IRA funds directly transferred to a qualified public charity. (San Isabel Land Protection Trust is 501(c)(3) charitable organization.)

Thanks to Greg Peterson of the Colorado Ag Water Alliance and Phil Brink of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association Ag Water Network for their information-packed presentations on community watershed planning in rural and agricultural communities in Colorado and the resources available to make it happen.

Learn how rural, mountain communities across Colorado are dealing with water shortages, buy-and-drys, augmentation plans and other water-related issues at a special presentation by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association Ag Water Network and the Colorado Ag Water Alliance.

The presentation, sponsored by the San Isabel Land Protection Trust, will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Cliff Lanes/Rancher’s Roost community room, 25 Main Street in Westcliffe. It is free and open to the public.

Tim, Ken and Becky Humphreys help make the 2019 Art for the Sangres a success.                       ©2019 Greg Smith

Our volunteers play a vital role for San Isabel Land Protection Trust. In 2019, they donated nearly 1,500 hours. The many ways they give to San Isabel is humbling and heartwarming.

In response to our invitation to participate in our recent strategic planning effort, Randy Woods, San Isabel's first president, sent a letter offering his insight into our organization’s history and graciously allowed us to share it with you.

In 2014, Kathi and Jack Thomas found their dream home in the Wet Mountains east of Westcliffe. But just two short years later, that dream went up in smoke in the Junkins Fire, an 18,000-acre conflagration that erupted in the early morning hours pushed by hurricane-force winds.

The fire destroyed the Thomases’ home and burned about 200 acres, much of it under a conservation easement with San Isabel Land Protection Trust. But they didn’t give up on their dream, and they didn’t give up on the land.

©2016 Greg Smith

Bluff Park,  at the west end of Main Street in Westcliffe, provides sweeping views of the Wet Mountain Valley and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. A steady stream of visitors and residents alike enjoy the park, the site of music festivals, night sky viewing parties, weddings and parties, and casual recreational use throughout the year.