Colorado Headwaters Land Trust will be merging with Colorado Open Lands, which is a statewide land trust based out of Lakewood, according to a joint news release.

The release states that the two organizations have been working together for several decades and are working to formally merge and create a single entity that will “better advance meaningful conservation and restoration in the Upper Colorado River Watershed in Grand County.”

Colorado Open Lands has been operating since 1981 and celebrated protecting 600,000 acres in 2021. The land trust regularly merges and collaborates with others, including Colorado Conservation Trust, Legacy Land Trust and more.

The release states that the merger is important because Grand County’s population is expected to grow quickly over the next 25 years. The Colorado River and its tributaries, such as the Blue and Fraser rivers, are also facing challenges because of resource overload, population growth and a changing climate.

Together, the two organizations will help bring more resources to Grand County. By combining the community connections held by Colorado Headwaters Land Trust with the expertise of a statewide organization like Colorado Open Lands, the pace of protecting land in a fast-growing community will speed up, the release states.

Once the merger is complete, Colorado Open Lands will be the primary private land conservation organization in Grand County and will carry out Colorado Headwaters Land Trust’s commitment to protecting open spaces and agricultural lands.

The Granby Highlands-Trails Conservation Easement was one of the last projects done by Colorado Headwaters Land Trust as an independent organization.

Conservation easements are a voluntary legal document between the landowner and the land trust that identifies a property’s conservation value, and they can be used as a land-protection tool. An easement permanently protects the land by restricting development, subdivision and other non-compatible uses of the property. In exchange, the landowner can receive payment or federal tax deductions and state tax credits based on the value of the easement.