As long-time supporters know, for almost twenty-five years the Ridgway-based Trust for Land Restoration has been tackling projects state-wide in general and in Ouray County in particular that larger organizations and even local governments are afraid to touch.  Our specialty is figuring out legal pathways through the regulatory maze surrounding past mining to allow good conservation and historic preservation to get done.  

These projects take time, but the results speak for themselves.  Since the year 2000:

• TLR- designed strategy allowed Summit County Open Space Department to acquire and clean –up 150-acres of mining claims in Peru Creek Basin;

• TLR-led stakeholders group rallied state and federal agencies to clean up three major mine sites near Ophir CO resulting in habitat and water-quality improvement to the Howard Fork of the San Miguel River;  

• TLR wrote and accepted the first conservation easement in the state covering a mining-tainted property, allowing Ouray County to acquire and protect the 130-acre Garard mining claims in the Ironton Park area of the Red Mountain Mining District;

• TLR wrote and accepted the second conservation easement in the state covering a mining-tainted property, allowing the Yankee Girl Mine in the Red Mountain Mining District to be purchased by a private individual, preserving an irreplaceable historic landmark and preventing Tom Chapman from developing it as a home-site;

• TLR assembled an attorney and environmental consultant team to represent the Town of Rico CO in negotiations with Atlantic Richfield Company to clean-up lead and arsenic contamination throughout the Town left by 130 years of mining; 

• TLR utilized private donations to acquire over 120-acres of mining claims in the Red Mountain Mining District and donating them to the United States Forest Service;

• TLR utilized private donations to acquire the two mining claims in the Red Mountain Mining District containing the remnants of the historic Corkscrew Turntable and donating them to Ouray County;

• TLR negotiated the sale of one mining claim at the top of Red Mountain Pass on the San Juan County-side to the Southwest Water Conservancy District, preventing the developing of a home-site above US 550 that would have necessitated the removal of one of the state’s first and still active “Snotel” weather recording stations; 

• TLR negotiated the donation to Ouray County by the Idarado Mining Company of the four historic Idarado Houses near the top of Red Mountain Pass on the Ouray County-side and has since raised over $170,000 to re-direct drainage, rebuild foundations, rebuild roofs, build outside stairways and landings, clean-up outside and inside, install an informational kiosk and keep open to the public.  Thanks to your generosity, we have the funds and this year will add a “thank you” board to the Idarado Houses kiosk that will include your name (unless you tell us otherwise);

• TLR coordinates the annual monitoring of more than a dozen historic sites in the Red Mountain Mining District (some on US Forest Service land, some on private land, and some on Ouray County-owned land), to document conditions and advocate for their protection and preservation.  Sites include the historic Ironton Townsite, owned by Ouray County, where TLR has placed retaining rocks, traffic-control gates and an informational kiosk, and this year recruited volunteers to shore-up the leaning Creek House, get the County to improve drainage and get the US Forest Service to drop trees identified as potential falling hazards to the structures found there; and 

• TLR owns 54-acres of high-quality wetlands along the Crystal River, adjacent to the Town of Marble that TLR accepted as a donation in 2021 because we were the only non-profit organization willing to receive the mining-contaminated property and get it cleaned up. Now named “the Marble Wetlands Preserve”, the old smelter site is capped, and we have placed a conservation easement on the property to permanently eliminate three building sites.  We have entered into a management agreement with the Town of Marble that allows the Town to oversee the day-to-day needs of the preserve until such time that TLR transfers the full ownership to them.

Our key to success has been to stay small, minimize overhead, and maximize donor dollars, relying on a hard-working Board of Directors, and utilizing volunteers and partnerships to tackle projects that other non-profits shy away from.  For this upcoming year 2025, those projects include 

• TLR acquiring a mining claim in Governor Basin to trade to the US Forest Service for their land under Idarado Houses 3 & 4; and 

• Can you keep a secret?  After more than six years of negotiations, TLR is on the cusp of signing a contract to buy a block of mining claims totaling over 100 acres, surrounded mostly by National Forest, overlooking Ironton Park.  Once we have the property under contract, you’ll be among the first to know the details.  We expect to have more than a year to complete our environmental due diligence and raise the money necessary, but we already have commitments for about sixty percent of the expected purchase price….. Stay Tuned.

We are most grateful for those of you who have supported us in the past and again ask for your help to bring these projects home. Land conservation, mining-related cleanup, and historical preservation as accomplished by the Trust for Land Restoration is a team effort.  Your donations fuel our ability to act.  Please accept our sincere thank you for your past generosity, and to thank you in advance for your consideration this year. The San Juan Mountains are incredibly special.  Your dollars keep us working to keep them that way.  Thanks for being on our team!