Bill Fales

Carbondale, Colorado

“It’s just really rewarding to see all the land that CCALT has conserved with ranch families all around the state.”

Bill Fales is a rancher and foundational figure in the formation of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT). He became a rancher during the summer of 1973 when he took a job on a hay crew in Carbondale, Colorado and met his wife, Marj Perry, whose grandfather had arrived in the Roaring Fork Valley in 1880. Bill was immediately drawn to ranching, working outside every day with jobs that varied each season. He valued the ability to accomplish something tangible and to produce food and immediately became involved in his community.

As Bill and Marj established Cold Mountain Ranch together, Bill heard about Stephen Small’s book, “Saving the Family Farm,” and began thinking easements could be an effective tool for agricultural producers in the West. While president of the Holy Cross Cattlemen’s Association and a board member of Pitkin County’s open space program in the early 1990s, he invited Small to speak to the community about conservation easements, and months later to the entire Colorado Cattlemen’s Association membership at their annual convention. Bill was invited to join the CCA land trust task force chaired by Jay Fetcher, with Penny Lewis and Tom Compton as additional members in their pursuit of creating a land trust under the direction of CCA.

Bill joined the CCALT Board of Directors in 1995 and served as CCALT Board President from 2007 until 2015. As president, Bill worked on building the organization’s financial solvency and ultimately gained support from the National Cattlemen’s Association (now National Cattlemen’s Beef Association) in their acceptance of voluntary conservation easements and CCALT’s groundbreaking conservation model. He also traveled across the state to CCA affiliates and local chapters to build organizational awareness and understanding for how easements could work for farm and ranch families. By CCALT’s 20^th year of service in 2015, under Bill’s direction, more than 240 families had partnered with CCALT to conserve more than 450,000 acres statewide.

Beyond his organizational contributions, Bill remains personally committed to working lands conservation. He and Marj conserved Cold Mountain Ranch in 2009 with CCALT to ensure its agricultural heritage continues in the Roaring Fork Valley. Fales’ legacy continues through their daughter, Molly Fales, who grew up with CCALT and has worked for the organization since 2015, currently as the Staff Attorney.