IS SO MUCH
THERE TO PROUD OF IN TO IN THE YEAR
Colorado & the Southwest
BE
2022 AND MORE TO LOOK FORWARD
AHEAD
Trust for Public Land has long believed that everyone needs nature but we know that access to parks and public land is not equally shared. That is why, with your generous support, we are leading a nationwide movement to close this outdoor equity gap.
to close the gap in accessing close-to-home nature. Together, we are ensuring everyone benefits from nature’s healing and unifying powers. Thank you again!
The impact of your giving is felt across the country from the new Chickamauga Trail in Tennessee to the transformed schoolyards in California. You are helping
Together, we are creating nature-rich places in the communities that need them most, improving people’s health, nurturing their joy, and strengthening their connection to the outdoors and one another. As we head into our second half-century, we are more committed than ever to connecting everyone to the outdoors
2 | TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND IN COLORADO & THE SOUTHWEST
James R. Petterson, VP, Mountain West Region Colorado & Southwest Director
We are focused on growing our impact and attracting new donors, friends, and advocates to our mission. Thanks to your generous support in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah , we recently helped open access to L Bar properties, 54,000 acres in New Mexico—land that has cultural significance for five Native American Tribes and Pueblos . Also, we are poised to cut the ribbon on Panorama Park in Colorado Springs’ Southeast Community, transforming this neighborhood through community building, engaging with the residents through our participatory design process, and helping a strong coalition of partners to flex their civic and creative muscles.
Shur View Open Space, Greeley, CO
© VICTORIA ENYART
COLORADO AND THE SOUTHWEST BY THE NUMBERS 562 placesNEW access10-minutepeople219,883withimprovedwalkpark749,000+ACRESPROTECTED Thank you for being a champion!TPL
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND IN COLORADO & THE SOUTHWEST | 3
In partnership with the Town of Camp Verde and the U.S. Forest Service, TPL added 58 acres to the Prescott National Forest, offering new public access to the river and trails.
In the Town of Chino Valley, the first territorial capital of Arizona, TPL is working to secure a 1,000-acre property, featuring historical buildings and ecological sites such as Del Rio Springs and Sullivan Lake, and three miles of an abandoned railroad bed. This railroad bed will be repurposed as a ‘rail to trail’ project, extending the Peavine National Recreation Trail from the City of
VERDE RIVER
On the iconic Gila River, residents of Thatcher and Safford, Arizona, have limited recreation opportunities and access to the river. TPL partnered with these local municipalities and collected input from local community members to envision a new linear park and trail. Here, visitors will be able to hike, run, bike and horseback ride along the river. The linear park will also improve equitable access with a multi-use pathway that is Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant. Private landowners donated trail easements along five miles of the river, marking a major milestone in advancing access to this local resource. TPL and partners continue to work on securing the private and public funding needed for construction of this park and trail.
© M c GANN & ASSOCIATES
Improving equity in access to Arizona’s rivers
GILA RIVER LINEAR PARK & TRAIL
TPL has been securing vital access to desert rivers for 30 years. Our focus today is expanding recreation and stewardship on the Verde River, one of the last freeflowing rivers in Arizona, and the Gila River, a tributary of the Colorado River that flows across Arizona from its headwaters in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness Area.
Prescott to the Verde River. TPL is collaborating with the town to develop a community-created design that meets their needs, including new parks and nature preserves.
Rendering of Gila River Linear Park & Trail, AZ
This outdoor space will soon serve over 16,000 additional residents. It also will protect significant wildlife habitat, including a high-quality shortgrass prairie.
Creating lasting change for a vibrant community
© VICTORIA ENYART
DELTA PARK
Along the northern Front Range in Colorado, residents lack open space and equitable access to parks. People living in Greeley and Windsor say they often drive 30 miles or more to get outdoors and recreate. East Greeley residents are effectively isolated from walkable parks and green spaces by two major highways. These challenges are contributing to a health crisis, with residents experiencing the highest rates of obesity and asthma in Weld County. Two new projects open numerous possibilities for addressing health, climate, and equity issues.
Residents in East Greeley refer to Delta Park as their “backyard,” where many doors of high-density housing units open directly onto the park. However, this barren park lacks amenities and doesn’t reflect the cultural vibrancy and diversity of the neighborhood. The majority of residents identify as Hispanic, with a large subgroup of Muslim, East African refugees. Nearly 50 percent of residents are children, and 33 percent of households have an annual income level below $35,000.
4 | TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND IN COLORADO & THE SOUTHWEST
SHUR VIEW OPEN SPACE
In low-income communities and communities of color, parks often are of lower quality, less maintained, and have fewer programs than parks in higher-income or white communities. With our work in the community, we aim to create a park development processes that can create mutual understanding and build belonging and inclusivity among people of color, white residents, youth and immigrants. In partnership with the City of Greeley and the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado, we are working with residents and stakeholders to transform Delta Park into one that meets the community’s needs.
Nearby, the 1,000-acre Shur View property offers a different type of outdoor access. This future open space
Planning work for both Delta Park and Shur View will be done in tandem, allowing for cross-location community engagement and programming.
Knowing that the newly renovated Delta Park will be a park for everyone. I’m excited that this space will be where community is built, comes together, and celebrates unity. It will be a place that community members are proud to take ownership of!
What changes have you seen in your community as a result of your partnership with TPL?
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND IN COLORADO & THE SOUTHWEST | 5
... Delta Park will be a park for everyone.”
How are you able to relate and facilitate involvement from multiple perspectives and cultures?
What are you most excited about with this park revitalization?
Why are outdoor spaces important to you and your community?
The residents know that Delta Park is a public park and not property of one of the apartment complexes nearby. Through the events sponsored by TPL, residents are using this space to build community, often saying “One big family, many cultures.”
Every Friday, Gloria facilitates coffee chats with immigrant women across five languages to talk about many topics of the day, which these days always includes Delta Park in east Greeley. Gloria’s close relationships are instrumental in integrating this diverse community’s unique perspectives into the foundation of this project. We sat down with Gloria to learn more about how she is partnering with TPL to advance the community’s vision for revitalizing this sparse neighborhood park.
Gloria Galindo
© TPL STAFF
Gloria Galindo is an expert in building deep connections in refugee communities. With 22 years of experience as an advocate at the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado and Lutheran Family Services, she is helping her community in Greeley, Colorado—bringing people together to reimagine their local park.
POWERFUL PARTNERSHIPS
Emily Patterson (TPL staff) & Gloria Galindo (right)
Simply put, I am a people person. I love all people, which allows me to relate and facilitate involvement amongst multiple people and cultures. I built bonds within communities and earned their respect as a Family Support and Community Liaison representative, teaching literacy to refugee families in their homes. I am often referred to as “Mama Gloria,” which speaks to our connection. These communities see me as a close family member of theirs, not just an employee of an agency.
Outdoor spaces are important and play a vital role in physical and mental health. There are many lessons a growing child can learn from the outdoors, as they expand their motor skills. Playing and exercising under the shining sun is not only for children, but also for older youth and adults. Being outside is free and requires no fee to be paid!
Generations of people will have access to this culturally and ecologically rich landscape in perpetuity. Once it opens to the public at a future date, the land will provide access to extensive outdoor recreation to residents and tourists alike and allow for hunting licenses for big game exclusively for New Mexico residents.
In a rugged corner of New Mexico on the flank of Mount Taylor, herds of elk migrate along rock ledges through stands of ponderosa pine. Black bear and mountain lion range across grasslands down into dense valleys of pinyon and juniper. Fractured rock ledges, striated cliffs of rose, mauve, and ocher, and towering mesas add to the wild landscape. This is the L Bar project, a 54,161acre expanse of culturally and ecologically important land bordered by a national forest, a state wildlife area, and the Pueblo of Laguna.
8 | TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND IN COLORADO & THE SOUTHWEST
Landscape-scale cultural and ecological wins
Now that this landscape is protected, members of the tribes, nations, and pueblos will once again have access to their ancestral lands. Protecting this land also connects vital wildlife habitats and migration corridors that development might have divided.
In 2022, TPL secured the L Bar property with help from the State of New Mexico, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, the local community, and other partners. The property will be added to the adjacent Marquez State Wildlife Area—more than quadrupling the wildlife area’s size and creating the largest stateowned recreation property in New Mexico.
© DAVE COX/MOUNTAIN MEDIA
Part of the landscape is considered a sacred pilgrimage site for as many as 30 Native American tribes . In 2009, some 400,000 acres on and around Mount Taylor—an extinct volcano rising to 11,300 feet—were designated under state law as a traditional cultural property. The Pueblo of Acoma, the Pueblo of Laguna, the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, and the Pueblo of Zuni have called the area home for more than a thousand years.
PHOTOS:
Theresa Pasqual , a program director of Pueblo of Acoma
... The purchase and protection of the L Bar property presents the potential for younger generations of Acoma children who have never seen those lands to now have a chance to get reacquainted with them.”
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND IN COLORADO & THE SOUTHWEST | 9
© CHRIS HINKLE
Local action, global benefitsZion
BONNEVILLE SHORELINE TRAIL
Additionally, guided by a five-year BST vision plan, TPL and partners are pursuing a National Scenic Trail designation for the trail, like the Continental Divide and Appalachian Trails.
In 2022, we acquired a 50-acre parcel of private land located on the Kolob Terrace area inside park boundaries for inclusion in the national park.
In the past decade, Utah was among the fastest growing states, and visitors to Utah spent $7 billion on tourism and travel in 2020 alone. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased pressure on iconic landscapes threatens public access. To address these challenges, TPL is working with partners to preserve land and expand trail access and designation.
TPL is leading efforts to bring to life the nearly 300mile Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST), stretching along the Wasatch Front from the Idaho border to the heart of the state. The BST is envisioned as a mixed-use recreation trail serving nearly 2 million Utah residents and an additional 9 million annual visitors with a close-tohome connection to nature and outdoor recreation.
TPL has a history of working to protect this haven for outdoor recreation. The second most-visited national park, Zion draws visitors from around the world, who come to marvel at the dramatic canyons and towering sandstone cliffs.
10 | TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND IN COLORADO & THE SOUTHWEST
National Park, UT
To date, TPL has completed more than 20 land acquisition projects along the proposed BST route—and there is much more to be done. TPL has mapped over 200 parcels of interest, with 30 recognized as high-priority for their impact potential on trail connectivity, safety, and access.
Today, there are more than 3,000 acres of private land inside park boundaries at risk of development. TPL’s strategy is to work collaboratively with these landowners to mitigate the threat of development of private land inside the park and along the park’s boundaries, which has increased due to a booming real estate market.
ZION NATIONAL PARK
Community Outreach with Resident Experts (CORE): Support youth and rising resident leaders as they help their local communities envision and create the great outdoor spaces they need to thrive.
Similarly, the ParkServe® Index enables anyone, anywhere to locate their existing parks and advocate for new parks based on local community, health, climate, and equity needs.
© ALLISON BARTHOLOMEW
Current funding opportunities
Community Schoolyards™: Transform barren schoolyards into vibrant green spaces for learning and play and help build our Colorado Community Schoolyards Program.
and imperiled landscapes.
Trust for Public Land: Give a gift to connect everyone to the outdoors.
TPL’s Land and People Lab uses evidence to increase the impact of our on-theground work and spark a national movement for parks and public land. We inform policies and practices, build partnerships, and share resources to expand the many benefits of nature and the outdoors.
Our work in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah is made possible thanks to the generosity of foundations, companies, and individuals like you.
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND IN COLORADO & THE SOUTHWEST | 11
Mestizo-Curtis Park, Denver, CO
We look forward to sharing the Lab’s future innovations with you.
TPL’s Land & People Lab
The Lab provides tools such as the ParkScore® Index , which is the national gold-standard comparison of park systems across the 100 largest cities in the U.S. These ratings have helped cities in Colorado and the Southwest advocate for park equity.
Leave a legacy: Create an even bigger impact by demonstrating your commitment to outdoor connections and making a gift through your will, trust, charitable gift annuity, charitable remainder trust, beneficiary designation, or appreciated assets.
Christopher Corroon , Axis Realty Group
Kim Morss , Community Volunteer
Dennis Carruth , Carruth Company
Tara Alderfer, Community Volunteer
Dana Crawford , Urban Neighborhoods, Inc.
Steve Coffin , Steve Coffin Strategies
Mike LaMair, RiverBank LLC
† Chair ; ‡ Vice Chair ; * National Board THANK YOU for helping
and
and beyond. We couldn’t do this without you. COVER, TOP: © AMY OSBORNE; © CHRIS HINKLE; © ALEXANDER WINSLOW M c CURDY; LARGE: © MIKE SCHIRF; THIS PAGE: © TPL STAFF
Jonathan Adelman , Vero Broadband†
Greg Felt , Chaffee County Commissioner; Ark Anglers
Heidi Baskfield , Children’s Hospital Colorado
Jim Petterson VP, Mountain West Region jim.petterson303.863.8485@ tpl.org Annette Mainland Director of annette.mainland303.867.2337Philanthropy@tpl.org 1410 Grant Street Suite D210 Denver, CO 80203 Join us Help ensure everyone has access to the outdoors. Every park we create, schoolyard we transform, trail we extend, and landscape we protect is thanks to supporters like you. tpl.org/donate/co COLORADO,ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, AND UTAH ADVISORY BOARD
Peter Kirsch , Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell‡
Arnold Salazar, Retired Kimberley Sherwood , Nonprofit Consultant improve the health, equity, climate outcomes for the Southwest
We are so grateful for our outstanding volunteers!
Beverly Griffith , Community Volunteer
communities in Colorado &
Scott Ingvoldstad , Olsson
Megan Hottman , Hottman Law Office
Jeff Resnick , Philanthropist*
Happy Haynes , Denver Parks & Recreation*
Chris Chavez , Chris Chavez Consulting
Kara Buckley, Crested Butte Institute