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Notes from the Chair by Dan Jones
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A Whirlwind Year
Just over a year ago I was writing to welcome our new Executive Director Amy Trainer. And now I am writing again to welcome our new Executive Director, Suzanne Ewy.
At a glance this would seem like a quick transition and one that perhaps shows some organizational instability. I want to assure you that is not the situation. Amy provided amazing advancement to OLT's position in the land trust community. She worked incredibly hard and saw us to completion with our easement with The Nature Conservancy which went into effect June 30. She is about to wrap up a similar protective agreement with the Division of Wildlife for the Orient Mine property. Under her direction we were recognized by the state of Colorado as a certified land trust. Amy has continued to work on land conservation as OLT's Land Conservation Specialist as well as on conservation of the San Luis Creek watershed through a Roundtable collaborative that she established.
Suzanne Ewy will be taking the helm at OLT on August 1. She brings a wealth of experience in working with a variety of organizations and especially those in remote locations. Having lived many years in Alaska the San Luis Valley may actually seem crowded to her! Her law degree will be a strong contribution to the myriad legal matters OLT deals with in advancing land conservation. Suzanne is a fourth generation Coloradan and has soaked at Valley View for years. You may find her near the pool where her son is an avid swimmer and water aficionado. If you don't find her there stop in and introduce yourself to her smiling self in her Welcome Center office. Suzanne attended Member Appreciation Weekend and is enjoying getting to know the membership.
Free Lunch!
At our annual meeting on Saturday, July 17 we will again be offering a free picnic lunch in the pavilion. Lunch will be served from noon to 1pm and then we'll have an hour of Q&A with members and the board of directors. Thanks to two of our helpful OLT Members for contributing their time and skills with the catering!
Volunteer Opportunities
Long time Valley View visitor and OLT member Lisa Gershkoff has stepped up to begin organizing the vast potential of volunteerism at OLT. In the weeks ahead you may get an email from her asking for confirmation of your willingness to volunteer and your areas of expertise. She will be building a new database of this information to help us better utilize volunteers. New volunteers are always needed and welcome!
Massage at OLT
We apologize for the delay in the construction of the Massage Deck, which was caused by multiple over runs on time-critical projects at the Everson Ranch. We hope that the Massage Deck will be completed during the month of July!
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Conservation Easement Completed!
Orient Land Trust is excited to announce the completion of a conservation easement held by The Nature Conservancy on 1270 acres of OLT’s property. The property now protected by a conservation easement includes the historic Valley View Hot Springs and the Everson Ranch, the historic working cattle ranch that OLT members helped purchase, and all accompanying water rights.
As you may know, the biologically diverse hot springs property includes over a dozen natural hot springs, is home to a rare high-altitude stream orchid as well as fireflies and a wealth of wildlife and natural beauty. The hot springs pools are also visited in the summer by the bachelor colony of 250,000 Mexican Free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) that have their summer roost in OLT’s nearby Orient Mine.
The Everson Ranch’s Hot Springs Creek is home to an indigenous population of Rio Grande chub (Gila pandora), a Colorado State species of concern, and will soon be home to a population of Rio Grande sucker (Catostomus plebieus), a Colorado State endangered species.
The conservation values will be preserved forever through this conservation easement while allowing the Valley View Hot Springs operations to continue and sustainable ranching to continue on the Everson Ranch. OLT Board Chair Dan Jones commented, “We are thrilled to be collaborating with the world’s premiere conservation organization. I have long admired their innovative approach to conservation.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
Orient Land Trust often partners with State, Federal, and Local agencies along with volunteer organizations to achieve our land conservation goals. Here the Colorado Division of Wildlife teams up with volunteers from the Youth Conservation Corps to do much-needed stream restoration at the Everson Ranch.
Meet our new Executive Director, Suzanne Ewy
Dear Folks!
I am so excited to be Orient Land Trust's new helmswoman. I have known Valley View Hot Springs and OLT for years now and have long thought it would be a wonderful place to work, a place where a person could do a substantial amount of good work.
I am a naturalist and environmentalist born and bred here in Colorado. I am a fourth generation Coloradoan, all of us environmentalists, naturalists, naked buds (my dad's nickname for us as kids) and died-in-the-wool outdoors-folk. My life has followed that trajectory ever since. College was science, graduate school was law, post graduate school was environmental law. I have worked in both the private and public sectors, here in Colorado and in Alaska, working for other environmental attorneys, owning my own firm for years and working for government organizations.
I love the history of can-do spirit and innovation that is found at VVHS and OLT. If we are going to solve the world's environmental issues, we are going to have to do it through a combination of technology, science, business, spirituality and our natural connection to the Earth. I think that Neil and Terry Seitz have done just that to create a little piece of heaven and then have given it to us in the form of OLT. I am always amazed what a good group of people can produce with effective leadership, competence, creativity, cooperation and a bit of humor. Given OLT's unique requirements, my unique skills and experience, and the invaluable resource of our board of directors, employees, members and visitors, I think together we are going to be able to take that seedling and grow a fine strong tree.
I am very eager to get to work. My impression is that the month of August will be taken up with catch-up and helping to run VVHS. As the summer madness dissipates I will be able to really sink my teeth into the various potentials and challenges that face OLT and VVHS. In connection with the OLT Mission Statement, the Board of Directors' strategic plan and input from the OLT community, we will add to and further develop our plans for the future.
To that end, I really want to know your ideas, hopes, dreams, questions and challenges concerning OLT and Valley View. Drop in, send me an email, give me a call or pull up a floatie - I want to talk to you. I can't promise immediate solutions and I know that we have many different views in our community, but I know that together we can continue to make OLT and VVHS an amazing oasis in this world of ours.
So, I can't wait to soak with you! If you meet a little wet ugruk (fur seal in Inupiaq) with goggles askew, that might be my son, Max. Every time we would visit, he would wander around VVHS and say, "Mom, I love this place." And I would say to him, "So do I, Max, so do I."
Suzanne
suzanne@olt.org
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Check out the 2010
This year's major fund-raiser to support our Land Conservation Mission is our Online Auction, which runs through 9/30/10. Bid on Art, Dining, Jewelry, Travel, Hot Springs Fun, and much more! Be sure to check back often as items may be added throughout the summer.
Thank you, Neil and Terry!
Our 2010 Member Appreciation Weekend was great fun, but perhaps the most important part of the event was the Friday night celebration in honor of OLT founders Neil and Terry Seitz. This part of the weekend celebrated the incredible three and a half decades of love, sweat and tears that they've put into Valley View, their vision in creating Orient Land Trust, and the completion of their donation of the Hot Springs property to OLT, effectively protecting it forever! As one member aptly put it in a note with his donation:
"This gift... is donated in honor of Terry and Neil Seitz. In honor of their incredible gift to all of us... In honor of their incredible respect for this land and its many uses... In honor of their incredible example of generosity of spirit... but also, for their incredible vision over the many years of their tenure..."
We couldn't have said it better!
Free Picnic Lunch!
* July 17th at the Pavilion
* Everyone who is visiting OLT that day and / or is attending the Board Meeting is invited!
* Sponsored by the OLT Board of Directors
* Noon - 1 pm: Lunch
* 1 pm - 2 pm: Q&A with the Board
Remember, summer at Orient Land Trust means...
Bats!
Fireflies!
Beautiful warm days
(almost never as hot
as the Front Range)
Spectacular sunsets
Pleasant cool nights
~ You can't beat it! ~
Bats... we've got 'em!
Orient Land Trust is the only place in Colorado where you can experience the thrill of seeing a quarter million Mexican Free-Tailed bats emerging from their cave at dusk each night... it's breathtaking! Call 719-256-4315 for up-to-date bat info. The bats are generally here through mid-September, but July and August is prime-time for our bat colony.
See below for
Quick Links
to useful info about Orient Land Trust &
Valley View Hot Springs
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