Essay by Susie Land

The land of Colorado creates a sense of serenity that goes beyond words, a feeling of trust, connection, and security. It’s in the snowfall on a quiet morning in Teller County, where my family has lived for generations. It’s in the Poudre River racing around me, where I learned to fish, swim, and understand the value of water. It’s even in the fields of wildflowers, stretching for miles, coloring the high alpine with vibrance as if the landscape has been painted into existence. I am a product of the places that raised me and shaped by mountains that taught me to find comfort in the uncomfortable.

This is the Colorado I know and love—the Colorado that led me to pursue a degree in Ecology, so I could understand how our ecosystems interact and shape the future. Over the years, I’ve learned to appreciate our natural resources and to understand that the land I get to explore, recreate on, and grow up on is a gift, and its conservation is critical to the Colorado we will give future generations. Through learning and mentorship during my summer with CCALT, I have gotten to see firsthand the value of a conservation easement, turning a family’s love for their land into a promise to protect our natural resources, allowing the land to stay working and open for all the years to come.

Yet what leaves me in awe, more than anything, is how these values and understandings are shared among communities of Coloradans, from the ranchers and mountaineers who taught me grit and perseverance to my own family who fostered my love for the outdoors. Generations of Coloradans have worked, protected, and cherished this land in a way that demands and deserves our utmost respect. My grandfather has told me stories over the years about our family’s history with the land in Teller County and the Cripple Creek mines that allowed them to establish a new life for themselves in Colorado. I often joke that I’m a product of mining and moonshine, lighthearted humor stemming from baffling stories about my great-great-grandfather, but those stories carry lessons of real hardship and perseverance. I have immense gratitude and pride for my family’s history and love of the land. This is the family heritage I carry with me.

In the next 150 years, we won’t see the boom of mining towns or trains of covered wagons journeying to the foothills, nor will we face the same hardships that forged communities of strong individuals throughout our history. We likely will, however, face unprecedented drought and other challenges that will reshape the Colorado we know, its communities, and the land we rely on. These experiences will challenge us, but it is my hope that they will continue to create intentional relationships both with each other and our state, uniting us through our appreciation and love for the land and our natural resources.

So, as I look forward, I believe that the land will continue to define current and future Coloradans in the same way it has defined me and the heritage that surrounds me – and may the work of protecting it, work I’ve been proud to be part of this summer, ensure it always can.