Community-Driven Conservation

STRONG LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION

Thanks to the generous spirit of Pueblo County farmers, our Bessemer Farmland Conservation Project continues to build momentum. In 2019, Palmer secured more than two million dollars of new funding for the project. This enthusiastic financial support is a direct result of our funders spending time on the land irrigated by the famed Bessemer Ditch – walking the fields; eating the local food; and, most importantly, meeting the farming families who are inextricably linked to the land, water, and agricultural heritage of the Lower Arkansas Valley.

This past year we also made significant progress with a legal win that allows for the preservation of some of the most productive farms in the region – land that otherwise would be required to be dried-up as water transfers from agricultural to municipal use. While the work is only beginning and the future of these farms is not yet guaranteed, this crucial legal milestone is essential to keeping locally grown food available in southern Colorado.

At Palmer, we are firm believers that effective conservation must be community-driven. To that end, we offer a heartfelt “thank you” to the families throughout southern Colorado who support us and make this important work possible.