Trust Our Land: Restoration for community and environmental health
By Deirdre Conroy
As your local land conservation organization, the Eagle Valley Land Trust is dedicated to forever protecting land, critical wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, and scenic value for the Eagle County community. Many of the lands that EVLT protects are accessible by a short walk or bike ride, and are also important wildlife habitats. The accessibility and importance of protected lands is deliberate. Citizens of Eagle County should be able to access open space near their home and work, and the wildlife around us need connected habitat to support functioning ecosystems.
EVLT’s conservation work is motivated by the interests of our community. Last summer, EVLT hosted a hugely successful restoration project on the Miller Ranch Open Space in Edwards. Thanks to a big turnout of passionate volunteers, the entire project took a fraction of the expected time to complete. This success should not be taken lightly; the project was not simple. Dedicated volunteers built wildlife-friendly fencing to protect sensitive habitat and concentrated trail use to designated, sustainable areas. Simultaneously, the project facilitated new connections between community members that had been strangers before.
As a result of this incredible restoration and community success, EVLT has added restoration projects to our Community Land Connection (CLC) Series. These projects will foster collective responsibility for Eagle County’s open spaces. EVLT’s CLC Restoration Program aims to restore and improve the spaces already important for recreational opportunities, wildlife habitat, and scenic value. This program was also inspired by the belief that Eagle County residents deserve to have healthy open spaces to enjoy forever.
Join EVLT, the town of Eagle, and Alpine Bank in restoring important wildlife habitat and scenic viewsheds on Saturday, August 17, 2019.
EVLT has turned inspiration into action, and the Eagle County community is invited. On Saturday, August 17th, Eagle Valley Land Trust is hosting a Restoration Project in the heart of Eagle to improve critical wildlife habitat and scenic viewsheds in partnership with Alpine Bank and the Town of Eagle. Alpine Bank, like Eagle Valley Land Trust, believe that the long-term health of a community is directly linked to the quality of the natural environment.
To learn more and RSVP to the project, send an email to community@evlt.org or visit https://evlt.org/volunteer-restoration-project-eagle/. Join us in bringing the community together over a collective love for nature. We hope to see you there.
Deirdre Conroy is the Community Outreach Program Assistant at the Eagle Valley Land Trust. She can be reached at community@evlt.org. EVLT is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For more about the Eagle Valley Land Trust and how it is conserving land and benefiting the community, visit http://www.evlt.org.
