PROTECTING
CENTRAL COLORADO

By Wendy McDermott, Executive Director Happy New Year!  2026 marks the 25th Anniversary of Central Colorado Conservancy.  We are looking forward to celebrating this milestone with you throughout the year. Our anniversary kick-off gathering takes place on Moonlight Monday — January 19th — at Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub in Salida. During Moonlight Monday, 10% of all sales ALL DAY whether you dine in at Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub or order to go will be donated to protecting the la

By Nathan Ward, Upper Arkansas Watershed Partnership Coordinator Once the sun starts to set, many animals venture from their dens or leave their daytime hiding places to hunt, eat, play, mate and do all the other things animals do when humans aren’t looking. It’s a fascinating world, but one we rarely see because, one, we are not usually hiding in the woods at night. And two, even if we were out there in the dark, human eyes can’t see much at night. It’s a conundrum, but we d

By Nathan Ward, Upper Arkansas Watershed Partnership Coordinator Just off Highway 50, behind the Hampton Inn, lies a relatively undiscovered potential oasis. It might be hard to envision at first glance, and today if you walked through this area you’d find a row of five foot high weeds, a slew of tall cattails yellowed by the autumn freezes, some trash among the plants, a thin seldom-used trail along the river adorned with the remnants of the camp of an unhoused person or two