In one extraordinary year, the Gunnison Valley came together to protect 419 acres.
Think about the moment driving north up the Gunnison Valley when you realize you’ve made it. Maybe it’s Jack’s Cabin, or the sight of Teocalli Mountain. Maybe it’s when the Butte or Whetstone comes into view or you spot Red Lady or Paradise Divide. Perhaps it’s that old collapsing barn or the first herd of cattle. For everyone the exact spot is different, but the feeling is the same. From the long-time ranchers or descendants of miners whose roots are generations deep to part-time community members (some of whom also have roots that are generations deep) or the full-time locals who have left their roots elsewhere to build a new life here, many people have made conscious choices to invest their time, financial gifts, and land to help protect the vistas that contribute to that feeling. The Crested Butte Land Trust is your local organization that coordinates and channels that investment in a strategic way to maximize the return for today and for generations to come.
This summer, the Land Trust celebrates its 35th anniversary of fulfilling their mission: working with you to forever protect and steward open lands for vistas, recreation, wildlife, and ranching, thus contributing to Gunnison County’s unique heritage and quality of life. Over those 35 years, the story of the Land Trust has been one of bringing people together around a shared vision of protecting this remarkable place that we are fortunate to experience together. Generous community members, collaborative partners, thoughtful board members, and effective staff have made it possible for the community to protect and steward 6,700 acres across 86 unique parcels in the Gunnison Valley.
An Extraordinary Opportunity Years in the Making
The work of the Land Trust is rooted in relationships and shared values. It often takes years, and sometimes decades, to build a relationship before a landowner will make the decision to place a conservation easement on their land. That long runway offers an opportunity to get to know an individual or family and develop a better understanding of their vision for the future use of the parcel, and it also means that Land Trust staff members don’t always know exactly when they will be presented with the chance to purchase a parcel or secure an easement.
Last year, the Land Trust saw not just one, but a handful, of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to protect parcels that had been on their wish list for a long time come to fruition. The first on the list was a 17-acre parcel near the Cement Creek Caves trailhead. This zone sees a lot of recreational use and is also a critical big game migration habitat. Then the Baxter Family approached Land Trust staff with an offer to place a conservation easement on the 120-acre Cement Creek Ranch. This stunning property includes nearly 80 acres of wetlands and open meadows in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. The Land Trust was also already working toward a multi-year effort to acquire another 14 acres adjacent to the existing 120-acre Long Lake property. Jake Jones, the Land Trust executive director, quickly marshaled his board and staff to start raising funds for this opportunity. They kicked into high gear with their annual Starry Evening Gala just a few months away.
As plans for the Cement Creek campaign got underway, another local family reached out to talk about the Land Trust acquiring the 90-acre Kapushion-Spehar Wetlands Parcel. This parcel combined with the previously acquired neighboring Confluence Parcel to permanently extinguish future development across the Slate River wetland and floodplain habitat totaling 145 acres. The Confluence Parcel was one of the original projects undertaken by the Land Trust when they acquired five small parcels along the Slate River corridor in the early 1990s. The opportunity to add the Kapushion-Spehar parcel offered a full-circle moment that will help protect the headwaters of the Gunnison River, a water source for more than 40 million people across seven states in the Colorado River basin.
It Takes a Village
Jake, Ashley Upchurch (now CFGV’s Director of Philanthropy, but at the time the Land Trust Development Director), and the staff and board mobilized to get the word out that they had less than twelve months to raise $6.35 million to protect 419 additional acres in the Gunnison Valley.
Often when a nonprofit launches a multi-million-dollar campaign they spend months conducting a feasibility study, then a year or more in a “silent phase” where they reach out to their closest supporters and try to pull together pledges and gifts to cover half of the goal. Once those steps are complete, they will officially launch the campaign publicly and seek support from the community at large. Instead, Jake, Ashley, and the Land Trust team had about nine months total to rally the community.
In most places, that wouldn’t be enough time. Fortunately, the Gunnison Valley isn’t most places. The dozens of nonprofits active across the Gunnison Valley support the thesis that our community is both extremely generous and actively engaged. By the end of the Starry Evening Gala on July 12, 2025, community members had given enough to secure the easement on Cement Creek Ranch and buzz was building for the Kapushion-Spehar Parcel. But to be able to close on the purchase in early 2026, the Land Trust still had to raise a significant percentage of the $3.8 million project goal.
Community members rose to the occasion. The Land Trust secured grant funding from the Town of Crested Butte’s Open Space Fund, the Gunnison Valley Land Preservation Fund, 1% for Open Space, and the Gates Family Foundation totaling about $1.8 million, leaving over half of the goal still to be funded through private donations. You answered the call. Hundreds of community members, full-timers and part-timers both, came together, giving what they could. Donors from multiple states supported the campaign, showing you don’t have to live here full-time to love the Gunnison Valley.
CFGV is honored to be a part of the story of community coming together to accomplish this ambitious effort. Since 2005, 18 different funds held by CFGV have granted a total of over $350,000 to support the Crested Butte Land Trust, including over $77,000 through our annual competitive Community Grants cycle. Support swelled in 2025 when fund advisors at CFGV saw the opportunity to be part of this exceptional community-wide push to protect key open space. Last year alone, eight different funds granted a total of $70,850 to support the Land Trust. Support continued in early 2026 as the campaign for the Kapushion-Spehar wetlands finished up in February, with nearly $60,000 granted so far this year. “About 20% of private donations to the campaign came from donor advised funds (DAFs) (held by CFGV or other DAF providers) or private foundations led by people with ties to the Gunnison Valley,” reported Ashley. “This speaks to the flexibility of a DAF to respond to urgent community needs.”
Together, You Did This
Coming on the heels of permanently protecting Red Lady in 2024, it was a bit surprising to see another huge year for the Land Trust in 2025. Thinking back on it, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. This community values open space and comes together to get things done. “Land conservation is a popular concept in the Gunnison Valley and it’s an honor to do work that brings people together,” Jake observed. “Whether the Land Trust is working on a conservation easement with an agricultural producer, securing critical public access, or ensuring that the headwaters of the Gunnison River are protected at the source, we are constantly focused on returning value to our community. Our work has immediate and generational impacts. It’s inspiring to be connected to such a broad cross section of our community from 6th generation ranchers to relative newcomers that all agree this land is worth protecting.”
Congratulations to Jake and the team at the Land Trust and thank you to everyone who gave to help make this happen.
Start Your Own DAF
If you’d like to talk to CFGV about how you can make a gift today that sets you up to respond to urgent community needs like this campaign in the future, give us a call at 970-641-8837 or email Ashley to set up a time to talk.
Simplified Summary
This summer, the Crested Butte Land Trust is celebrating 35 years of protecting special lands in the Gunnison Valley. Over that time, the Land Trust has worked with generous people in the community to protect over 6,700 acres of land. This land includes views, homes for wildlife, and places for ranching.
Last year, something amazing happened. Several rare chances to protect important land came up at the same time. These included a 120-acre ranch with wetlands and meadows, a wetlands area that connects to the Slate River, and more land next to a lake the Land Trust already protects. All together, these pieces of land added up to 419 acres. But protecting all of it would cost $6.35 million, and the Land Trust only had about nine months to raise the money. Most groups would need a year or two to raise that much.
The Gunnison Valley community stepped up. At a big fundraising event called the Starry Evening Gala, people gave enough money to protect the ranch. Then more people kept giving. Grants came in from local groups, and hundreds of people—both full-time residents and people who only live here part of the year—donated what they could. Some people who gave money don’t even live in Colorado, but they still love this valley and wanted to help protect it.
Thanks to everyone’s help, the Land Trust was able to protect all of this land. This adds to work the Land Trust has done since 1990, including protecting Red Lady in 2024. The people at the Land Trust say this shows how much this community cares about its land and works together to take care of it.
This simplified summary was generating using Claude and reviewed by a human for accuracy. The title and subtitle were also developed in conjunction with Claude.
