High Country Conservation Advocates

PUBLIC LANDS PROGRAM From high rugged mountain faces to rolling sage brush flats, HCCA works to ensure that these special places are protected and conserved. For nearly 50 years, the Public Lands Program has played a key role in local and regional stakeholder groups,advocating for conservation within forest management, watershed planning, wildfire protection, tourism, and drought resilience efforts. HCCA advocates for conservation solutions to elected officials, government decisions makers and staff, other interested organizations, and the local community using a spectrum of tools from direct relationships, to participation in community planning processes, writing formal letters, and by publishing essays in local newspapers. We also lead collaborative efforts like the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative, which has resulted in broad stakeholders consensus to recommend protections for thousands of acres of public land-recommendations now advancing in Congress as part of the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act.

SAVING RED LADY ON AUGUST 29,2024, HCCA achieved a final and historic victory in its 47 year fight to save Mt Emmons (locally known to locals as the Red Lady) from mining. With cooperation Mt Emmons Mining Company(MEMC) and the community, HCCA secured the following (1) an Extinguishment Agreement for the Mineral and Development Rights on 885 acres of MEMC private land on Red Lady; (2) MEMC relinquished over 1100 mining claims on public lands in Gunnison County; (3)in a Land Exchange, MEMC exchanged several properties with the USFS that would be intergral for any future mine and those properties are now public lands; (4) the Thompson Divide/Mt Emmons Mineral Withdrawal prohibits new mining for twenty years on Red Ladys public land.

STEWARDSHIP-HCCAs Stewardship Program works collaboratively with land management agencies and community organizations to address climate resiliency through the coordination of on the ground stewardship projects. These volunteer driven projects connect and educate the local community through restoring the health and ecological resiliency of our shared public lands.