Colorado’s Mount Tom protected through conservation partnership

This story first appeared in The Outsider, the premium outdoor newsletter by Jason Blevins.

In it, he covers the industry from the inside out, plus the fun side of being outdoors in our beautiful state.

A $25 million effort to protect 2,000 acres of private land around Mount Tom in Jefferson County solidifies a new, complex model for conserving public lands in an increasingly crowded Colorado. 

Just like the creation of the new Fishers Peak State Park outside Trinidad, the broad partnership that coalesced around Mount Tom — one of the 10 highest peaks in Jefferson County — reveals a path to preserving large swaths of land that can elude single agencies. Great Outdoors Colorado, Jefferson County Open Space and Colorado Parks and Wildlife joined with three…