John,
Right now, we have a chance to
- create an enormous area of public land that would be rugged, gorgeous, and uniquely accessible all at the same time.
- strengthen the economy of a small, rural city and much of the surrounding area.
- provide a template for similar projects across the country.
But you have to act quickly, because the clock is ticking.
At The Trust for Public Land, we create parks and protect land for people. We recently worked out a deal with the old mining town of Trinidad, Colorado: In partnership with The Nature Conservancy, we would raise the money to buy 19,000 acres just south of town to protect important wildlife habitat and make the property publicly accessible for outdoor recreation.
We call this project Fisher’s Peak, after the majestic mountain that rises up from the northern end of the parcel. Fisher’s Peak — the project — is uniquely important for several reasons.
1. Combining this parcel with the abutting Sugarite Canyon State Park in New Mexico and two adjacent Colorado state wildlife areas adds up to what would be more than 55 square miles of contiguous, publicly accessible land.
2. The Fisher’s Peak property has four exits off I-25 and 60 miles of interior ranch roads; it could offer accessible outdoor recreation opportunities to people who use wheelchairs, and those facing other challenges as well.
3. If this project succeeds, Colorado would get a huge new addition of public land that would protect important wildlife habitat and open the southeastern part of the state to outdoor recreation in a way it has never been before.
4. If this project succeeds, it would serve as a living laboratory for transitioning local resource extraction-based economies into recreation-based economies.
Because this is such an incredible opportunity, we took out $20 million in bridge loans to buy the property. Now we have to raise the money to pay off those loans. If we don’t, we’ll be forced to sell the property to a private buyer. The land will remain closed to the public, it would be vulnerable to reckless development at any time, and all our work will have been for nothing.
The fate of this project is hanging in the balance right now. If we can’t raise the funds we need to seal the deal soon, the whole thing will collapse.
So I’m turning to people like you — people who understand the importance of protecting and preserving public lands — to help make this happen. Won’t you please join us today?
When you become a member of The Trust for Public Land, you will do more than help make Fisher’s Peak a reality. You’ll also help us conserve working farms, ranches, and forests; lands of historical and cultural importance; rivers, streams, coasts, and watersheds; and other special places where people can experience nature close at hand.
I can’t emphasize the national importance of this project enough. It would show funders and public agencies around the country that if you have a great landscape and open it to the public, the tourists will come. They’ll be able to see that it will revitalize their economies in a way coal mining, fracking, etc. never will. We would prove that if you conserve what you’ve got, you’ll actually do better economically than if you develop it.
So you see, there’s a lot more riding on this than the $20 million.
Your membership gift will help to turn locations all across the country from extraction to preservation and conservation. We owe future generations no less.
Sincerely,
Jim Petterson
Colorado State Director
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