Environmental Stewardship Awards

The Rocky Mountain Flycasters Chapter of the Trout Unlimited engages in a variety of stewardship activities here in Larimer County. The Poudre Headwaters Project is one activity where RMF volunteers have worked to improve streams used by the Colorado Greenback Cutthroat Trout. Once complete, this project will result in the largest interconnected stream restoration area in the state for Greenback Cutthroat Trout. last July RMF volunteers stocked 10,000 Greenback Cutthroat Trout to Williams Gulch in the Poudre River Headwaters, and then also installed barriers to the upstream migration of non-native fish. Other projects that RMF volunteers engage in involved assisting CPW in stocking over 100k rainbow trout into the Poudre River after the Black Hollow Flood decimated fish populations.  They also engage with young people through their “Trout in the Classroom” projects that teach school-aged youth about the biology and conversation of cold-stream trout species.

Back 40 Land Management operates in Larimer County and provides restoration and management services for privately held community open spaces, pasturelands, and rural sites.  Their work includes control of noxious weeds, revegetation, and wetland management. Their approach is to develop a multi-year plan that incorporates all these services and integrates with the landowner’s interests - including improving pastureland, enhancing ecosystems to better support wildlife, or creating low water-requirement native spaces.  They work with HOAs to reduce irrigated turf and convert these areas to native grasslands free of noxious weeds.  Their pasture management services promote desirable vegetative production and improve livestock forage. Their conservation assistance services focus on improving soil stability, nutrient availability, and conserving native ecological communities to promote wildlife habitat.  David Cummings, owner of Back 40 Land Management has created a business model for land management that promotes native landscapes and water conservation in Larimer County.  This service provides HOAs and other large lot property owners with native and sustainable alternatives to resource consumptive landscapes (i.e., irrigated turf).

Broadcom is reducing its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) through point-of-use abatement technology.  Electronic chip manufacturing is a significant source of GHG emissions, but Broadcom has systematically reduced GHG emissions for over 10 years, well before legal requirements were in place. Broadcom recognized the importance of using sustainable manufacturing practices while also creating some of the world's most advanced wireless technology. At its Larimer County facility, Broadcom started installing GHG abatement units in 2012 and has been installing units every year since. Between 2012 and 2016 Broadcom experienced a sharp increase in production as demand for wireless technology grew. In response, and as abatement technology became more reliable, Broadcom aggressively purchased and installed abatement units on high emitting tools between 2015 and 2022. By January 2023, the facility completed installing over 30 abatement units on GHG emitting tools that remain in production capacity.  Between 2015 and 2022, Broadcom reduced total greenhouse gas emissions by 73% (from 293,419 mt CO2e in 2015 to 78,863 mt CO2e in 2022).  As a major employer in Larimer County, Broadcom recognizes the important role it plays in our local communities, in Colorado and as a global company to promote sustainable business practices.

The Robert’s ranch was founded in 1876 and remains transitioned from a traditional to a leading adaptive and restorative grazing operation on its 13,000 acres.  The Ranch’s project was initiated in 2020 when Leachman Cattle of Colorado was awarded the Roberts Ranch grazing lease from the Nature Conservancy, who holds the property’s conservation easement.  Leachman Cattle has partnered with SnapLands LLC, who measures the annual successes of the targeted grazing program.  The program measures increased economic and ecological viability, increased land production and soil fertility, drought resiliency, wildfire resiliency, ecosystem services, carbon sequestration in soils, education and community outreach, animal well-being through low stress stockmanship.  Improved rangeland health and successful livestock performance are both outcomes of the adaptive planned grazing strategy.  Over the past 3-years the three, very divergent parties have come together to create a shared vision to restore the land and livestock vitality of the Roberts Ranch