Larimer Conservation District Championing Climate Smart Work

This quarter, we are highlighting the Larimer Conservation District and their role in Climate Smart Future Ready (CSFR). Find out more through the below Q&A with Gretchen Ruening, their Executive Director. 

What is the Conservation District and your role there?

The Larimer Conservation District (LCD) is a special district of Colorado, established in 1945 to address the most pressing natural resource issues at a local level. Today, LCD's primary programmatic focus is on watershed health and resilience, tackled through our Forest Health, Riverscapes, and Soil Health programs. I started as a Conservation Forester with LCD in early 2017, helping to build the Forest Health program into what it is today. In May 2023, our board made the decision to assign me into the role of Executive Director. Our talented and dedicated staff make my job easy, and I feel very fortunate to be able to serve our communities in my new role.

Why are you or the Conservation District involved with CSFR?

LCD's programs are deeply intertwined with climate smart practices across land uses. We work with private landowners throughout Larimer County to achieve impactful conservation objectives with the goal of watershed health, wildlife habitat, reduction of wildfire risk, and improving ecosystem resilience. Our mission ties well into CSFR, specifically actions pertaining to the Natural Environment. I'm excited for the opportunity to contribute to this important initiative, and help focus resources towards achieving CSFR goals. 

What is your entity already successfully working on/achieving and what will be enhanced and added through the CSFR actions?

Since 2017, LCD's Forest Health program has completed over 4,000 acres of forest restoration work collaborating with 100+ private landowners within the county. These projects achieve landscape level treatments that help reduce the impacts from future wildfires, contributing towards shared CSFR goals. Starting in 2022, we began leveraging the relationships and partnerships built through the forestry program to build up a Riverscapes restoration program. This program has already engaged 6 landowners within the county to complete low-tech process-based stream restoration work. These projects are designed to improve overall ecosystem function, further contributing towards CSFR goals. To fully realize the goals behind CSFR, we recognize the importance of collaborating and leveraging shared resources. Becoming involved with CSFR actions, our work will be enhanced through this collaboration, and will lead towards increased funding opportunities to accomplish impactful work on the ground and educational opportunities for our communities.

What action are you and your committee going to tackle first?

During our Action Committee's first meeting, the group agreed that there are many actions within our strategy that are already being tackled at various scales throughout Larimer County and the Front Range. Though many of these efforts towards achieving shared CSFR goals already exist, the group decided that our first action would be to complete an inventory of current resources, data sources, and collaboratives across land uses. From there, we will complete a gap analysis to ensure that our remaining actions are robust and complete in meeting the goals of our strategy.

What partners are you planning to work with this year?

Though there are too many to list, we have already engaged partners from local, state, and federal entities who are already involved in the tactics outlined in our action. These include municipalities & water providers, public land management entities, watershed coalitions, landowners, grant-making organizations, and county staff to name a few.

What are your hopes for CSFR work? 

My hope is that through collaborating on this Action Committee, we can further leverage partners' shared resources towards achieving shared goals. If this group can identify new ways of working together or identify new funding streams that can help achieve tactics, that would constitute a "win" for me! We have a lot of work to accomplish over the next five years, but I'm confident that collaborators bring a tremendous amount of expertise and ideas to bear on the project, which can only lead to positive outcomes for natural resources within Larimer County.