Crested Butte Land Trust Jake Jones Interview
Crested Butte Land Trust Jake Jones Interview – It was my pleasure recently to get a chance to have a chat with the Executive Director of the Crested Butte Land Trust – Jake Jones.
The Crested Butte Land Trust does a great job of protecting and caring for the open lands in the Crested Butte area and all of the Gunnison Valley. They work with partners to preserve scenic vistas, wildlife habitats, our ranching heritage, and recreational opportunities forever. Willing land owners, local ranchers, government entities, fellow nonprofits, and committed community members make this valuable work possible.
Watch Video – Crested Butte Land Trust Jake Jones Interview
Transcript – Crested Butte Land Trust Jake Jones Interview
Chris Kopf: Hey, it’s Chris Kopf. We’re in downtown Crested Butte. I’m here with Jake Jones, who’s the executive director of the Crested Butte Land Trust. Jake, tell us little about yourself and the Crested Butte Land Trust.
Jake Jones: Yeah, Chris, thanks for having me. My story’s pretty similar to many others. I came here, as a young ski bum – an aspiring ski bum and never left. That was in the early nineties, amazingly 30 years ago. Wow, along the way, I got a degree in biology from Western State College at the time now – Western Colorado University, and did a number of things in my career where I feel like what I’m doing right now at the Land Trust is, a culmination of all the things I’ve done, and it’s really the, the proudest work I’ve ever done in my career, especially here in Crested Butte.
Chris Kopf: Well, the Land Trust is an awesome organization. Everybody that I talk to, are in awe of the views that we have in Crested Butte and the, the land that’s available. So it’s about the land, but it’s also about the people – Is it not?
Jake Jones: Absolutely. You know, in order for us to, do the work we do, we want the people to be engaged with the land and with conservation as much as possible. Some of the places that we’ve protected have been with people in mind, places like Long Lake, the Gunsight bridge area, the Lupine Trail, the Lower Loop, the Rec path, between Crested Butte and Mount Crested Butte. All those were products of land conservation. And not only is it good for people, it’s great for the wildlife that moves through. We’re still able to support ranching in the Upper Valley here, and the views are to die for.
Chris Kopf: Yeah. And I always say, it brings, so many different, demographics of people together and we are thankful so much for the homestead ranchers and all that they have done. And you’ve worked with them to protect the land and make it available as well for other uses.
Jake Jones: That’s right. You know, conservation here in the Gunnison Valley and I’d say throughout the valley, is something that we all tend to agree on, and especially in a time where, you know, people disagree on a lot of things. This is something that I’m really proud to be a part of. Yeah, because it is, it, it transcends all boundaries, political boundaries, economic boundaries, coming to a place like this is really about the surroundings and about the, natural environment and being able to interact with the natural environment and a place like Crested Butte, and throughout the Gunnison Valley, we can all relate to that. If we wanted to be in an urban environment, we would, and we’re not. Right. And we’re in a place like this. Yeah. The land that we’ve protected over the last 30 years, uh, is still private land, and it was private land.
It just didn’t include a lot of these places where we have access today. They were inaccessible to the public years ago. Yep, that’s a big deal. We also work with ranchers on private land conservation easements and ranch land acquisitions. We own hundreds of acres of ranch land, that have no public access at all. That’s also a really important part of what we do to allow ranching to continue to thrive in a place where it’s tough to do. It’s a cold growing season – short. There’s a lot of people, in every little nook and cranny where they’re allowed to go.
Chris Kopf: Well, I was just at the event you hosted at the Uley’sCabin, which was really great. Dwayne Vandenbusche did a nice historical talk, but you do a lot of events throughout the year. I’m excited in the summer, to always to be a part of the Caddis Cup and your annual, gala event. Tell us a little bit about the events that you have and the fundraising that you’ve done, because, that’s an important part of your, your, nonprofit as well. Right.?
Jake Jones: Hugely important. You know, we don’t operate in a closed silo. We really work in the public and for the public. The conservation work that we do, gathers a lot of public funds through the town’s real estate transfer tax. That’s a big deal. And our real estate community, does a lot to contribute to that through the sale of real estate in the town of Crested Butte. And we also rely on, gifts from individuals throughout the community. And so, you know, there are many ways to do it. And one of them is to just engage folks through events. Some of them, we do charge a fee and they’re great fundraisers. Others are free and they’re educational and they’re meant for us to meet people – and people to meet the land trust, and also to showcase the partnerships that we have throughout the valley.
We really couldn’t do this work without, the many other partner organizations, both local government as well as nonprofits. You know, I’ve found that when we pool our resources and we pull together, we can really go far and fast. Yup, if we work separately and in our own silos, we may not get anywhere. Right. And so I want to go far and fast with partners, and our events help us do that, to grow our partnerships, grow our base of supporters, and to work directly with the organizations that benefit from the land trust and we benefit from their work as well.
Chris Kopf: Well Awesome. Thanks for all that you do to protect the land and make it available, and to work with the community in so many different aspects. So how can people get involved? How can they donate? How can they, find out about the events that you have going on and, get engaged?
Jake Jones: Well, of course, folks can always check out our website, CBLandTrust.org. We have an amazing team at the Land Trust right now. I’m very, very proud to work with the people, that we have in our office. You know, there’s a team of five of us, um, two work on the development and outreach side. Two are full-time dedicated to our, field stewardship operations, and then myself as the executive director, and I sort of take the lead on conservation projects. But we have dozens of volunteers, that help out in field stewardship projects as well as at our events. And our attendees of events, the, tend to leave pretty happy, you know? Yeah. it’s a feel good mission. Yep, we get to engage a lot of people at whatever level they can support us with. You know, and that’s $50 donations from across the community as well as gifts that are much larger than that. Sometimes those come through events, sometimes those come through our annual appeals. We’re always fundraising to run our operations as well as to conserve more land. The more money we raise, the more land we can protect. Awesome.
Chris Kopf: Well, super good. Jake, do you want to speak just briefly about some of the special projects? I know you just recently…, I won’t steal your thunder, had a really new nice announcement.
Jake Jones: Yeah! Gosh. We are so proud to have worked with the Schutt Family. Bob and Suzanne Schutt, very recently here to conserve 107 acres on the Slate River. There’s about a mile of the Slate River that runs through the property. It’s right adjacent to town, very recognizable, piece of property, which will be owned by the Schutt family forever or as long as they choose to own it. And the conservation easement will go with the land forever, whether the Schutts own the property or not. That’s what conservation easements do. We essentially acquire the development rights, through various means. There’s usually a donation component from the landowner as well as, bringing some cash to the table to make the deal work. Right. And, this is a legacy that’ll last forever. We’ve seen, the herd of elk there, on their way to and from the high country in the spring and fall. We’ve got, winter ski trail going through it. Which you know, I think is amazing that the Nordic system is on – a lot of it is on private conserve lands, owned or managed by the land trusts and tens of thousands of people can use those trails in the wintertime and then they go away …
The Crested Butte Nordic Center Alley Loop. We just had went through a lot of conservation land.
Jake Jones: The Alley Loop race goes through a lot of it. Yeah. And so we can get a lot of people on conservation lands in the wintertime. Yeah, without any harm being done to the land or the, or the wildlife that uses that land, when the snow melts.
Chris Kopf: Yeah. The new Gunsight bridge project, and the lower loop and the list goes on… Long Lake… The Bud Trail, the list goes on…
Jake Jones: That’s right. That’s right. You know, living in a place like this, really does require commitment to be outdoors. For a lot of us, that’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re still here. And the quality of the outdoors here is, you know, as good as it can possibly be, considering that we are a thriving tourist town that we still, rely on, development and construction as a major part of our economy. And, we think that land conservation fits within that economy very well. And gosh, the fact that so many people have worked so hard to care for this place for so long, has made it a place that people still want to come to, to visit, to invest in, in land, to invest in conservation. You know, I feel fortunate to be, doing what I’m doing in a place where, people universally like what we do, which I’m really grateful for. And people still love Crested Butte which I’m also grateful for. Absolutely. Because I love it too.
Chris Kopf: Well, people always ask me what makes Crested Butte special? And the Crested Butte Land Trust is one of the reasons Crested Butte is so special. So when you’re here in Crested Butte, reach out to the Land Trust, take a look at their website and see what you can’t do to get involved, get engaged if that’s for you. Have an
awesome day. Thanks so much, Jake.
Jake Jones: Thank you, Chris.
For More Crested Butte Land Trust Info
– Visit The Crested Butte Land Trust Website
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