Garfield County Greenprint

People who make Garfield County their home enjoy its quality of life—working ranches and farms, clean rivers and streams, small towns, scenic views, and world-class recreation opportunities. Working lands and access to open spaces not only enhance the quality of life but also provide jobs and fuel the local economy. However, the very qualities that attract people to Garfield County are at risk as more people move to the area and it becomes a popular tourist destination.

In late 2011 and early 2012, a citizen's group, the Garfield Legacy Project (GLP), solicited help from The Trust for Public Land and the Sonoran Institute to lead a community-wide effort to identify the areas in the county where open lands are most valued as natural assets, and to consider how they can be protected as the population continues to grow. We helped produce the Garfield Greenprint for Conservation and Economic Opportunity, which identified the most important conservation areas. This project is seen by many as a critical step in creating a voluntary, non-regulatory program to conserve agriculture, develop trails and open space, and protect wildlife habitat and other important areas in Garfield County.

Learn more about our work protecting farms and ranches in Colorado.