VALLEY – On Thursday, the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Board awarded a $695,000 open space grant to the City of Alamosa in partnership with Western Rivers Conservancy to acquire 206 acres of land along a 1.5-mile stretch of the Upper Rio Grande River, which will help meet community demand for more outdoor trails and recreation opportunities, as well as a $33,200 Youth Corps grant to the city’s parks and recreation department for trail work.

The Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Board also awarded Colorado Open Lands a $612,702 grant to acquire conservation easements on four ranches with senior water rights outside of San Luis.

These grants are part of GOCO’s open space grant program, which funds private and public land conservation projects that give outdoor recreationists a place to play (or simply enjoy the view), protect wildlife habitat, safeguard the state’s water supply and watersheds, and sustain local agriculture.

Alamosa project

This acquisition will add 30 percent to the city’s existing trail system and expand access to the river from the south. The property includes 170 acres of narrowleaf cottonwood riverside woodlands, which provide habitat for rare species and are recognized by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program as a priority conservation area.

In addition to the land acquisition grant, the GOCO Board awarded a $33,200 Youth Corps grant to the City of Alamosa parks and recreation department for maintenance work and ADA-accessible trail construction.

GOCO awards Youth Corps funding through the Colorado Youth Corps Association (CYCA), which represents a statewide coalition of eight accredited corps that train youth, young adults, and veterans (ages 14-25) to work on land and water conservation projects. Corps members earn a stipend for their service and an AmeriCorps education award to use toward college or reducing existing student loans. CYCA serves more than 1,500 participants annually.

“CYCA’s partnership with Great Outdoors Colorado is a launching pad for Colorado’s youth and young adults,” CYCA Executive Director Scott Segerstrom said. “This investment by GOCO does much more than protect our iconic landscapes. It places our corps members on the path to earning a college degree, starting their career, and discovering the confidence to become community leaders. Together, we are changing hundreds of lives each year.”

With its funding, Alamosa will hire youth corps crews from Southwest Conservation Corps to build approximately one mile of ADA-accessible trail in Blanca Vista Park and treat approximately 10 miles of trail near the Alamosa Disc Golf Course for noxious weeds and overgrown brush. Alamosa has prioritized trail development in recent years, and this funding will help build on the momentum, as well as support the youth economy and encourage a new generation of environmental stewards.

To date, GOCO has invested $6.6 million in projects in Alamosa County and has conserved more than 29,000 acres of land there. GOCO funding has supported the Rio Grande Healthy Living Park, Alamosa Multiuse Pavilion and  Ice Rink, South Side (Friends)  Community Park, the conservation of Green Ranch and King Ranch, and the Alamosa Generation Wild coalition Alamosa RIO!, among other projects.

San Luis project

GOCO funding will help Colorado Open Lands permanently protect the four properties, covering roughly 1,190 acres, and their acequias, which are communal irrigation canals and ditches that predate Colorado’s statehood. This effort marks the second phase of the Acequia Conservation Initiative in the San Luis Valley.

Acequias are highly important to the Valley’s agricultural economy and natural heritage. Local landowners have been under pressure to sell or transfer their water rights, but doing so could compromise the acequias’ integrity across the entire water basin.

In addition to safeguarding water rights, the easements will protect three miles of the Rio Culebra, which provides important habitat for rare and endangered species, including the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, the Southwestern willow flycatcher, and the bald eagle.

The ranches are visible from the Los Caminos Antiguos Scenic Byway as well as the Stations of the Cross Shrine in San Luis. Public access to the ranches will continue through community-building activities such as the annual ditch cleaning, Riverwatch educational programs with local schoolchildren, and adult artist days.

To date, GOCO has invested $5 million in projects in Costilla County and has conserved more than 22,000 acres of land there. GOCO funding recently supported the expansion of the Batenburg Meadows Greenbelt and the acquisition of Brownie Hills, conserving habitat and connecting communities to the Rio Grande. GOCO grants have also supported the Sangre de Cristo Greenbelt Trail and the outdoor fitness center and exercise park in the Town of San Luis.

Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces. GOCO’s independent board awards competitive grants to local governments and land trusts, and makes investments through Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Created when voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1992, GOCO has since funded more than 5,000 projects in urban and rural areas in all 64 counties without any tax dollar support. Visit GOCO.org for more information.