Colorado West Land Trust began with a small group of farmers in 1980 who wanted to protect the farmland in Palisade from being quickly built out during the growing oil shale boom. The team wasn’t sure how to shield fruit producing land from development, but they wanted to try at least. Three of the founders completed the conservation process in 1982 and very slowly grew the amount of land under conservation to 64,000 acres, present day. Of those acres, 800 are fruit producing parcels located in Palisade, with the hopes …
