Chapter 16: Open Space

Coloradans greatly appreciate their natural surroundings and agricultural lands. Although approximately forty percent of the State is off-limits to development due to federal or state ownership, innovative land conservation efforts, both public and private, continue to make additional gains in preserving Colorado’s abundant natural heritage. Coloradans have voted to direct lottery proceeds to fund additional land conservation around the state; state lawmakers have created one of the most generous incentive programs in the country for the donation of conservation easements; and local governments are creating and funding their own programs to preserve lands of local significance.

This chapter outlines the legal options available under Colorado law for protecting agricultural lands, natural areas and wildlife habitat, with emphasis on programs that provide financial support or benefit to private landowners.

§ 16.1 Overview
§ 16.2 Conservation Easements
§ 16.3 Great Outdoors Colorado Program
§ 16.4 Colorado Division of Wildlife
§ 16.5 Colorado State Parks
§ 16.6 County and Municipal Open Space Programs

WILLIAM M. SILBERSTEIN, ESQ.
Isaacson Rosenbaum P.C.

William M. Silberstein is a shareholder and a member of the Conservation Law Practice Group at Isaacson Rosenbaum P.C., a Denver, Colorado law firm. As a recognized leader in land conservation law in the Rocky Mountain region, he has worked with landowners, land trusts, accountants, appraisers, land planners, and biologists in structuring conservation easements, and conservation-oriented business and estate plans. He has helped land trusts in the areas of non-profit corporation organization and obtaining tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable status. He and his firm have represented landowners and conservation organizations in over 700 conservation easements. He serves as counsel to Colorado Open Lands, Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, and Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts. Recently, he represented Forbes Trinchera, Inc. in the donation of an 80,000 acre conservation easement to Colorado Open Lands. Bill served on the Board of Directors of the Land Trust Alliance, and is a member of the Denver and Colorado Bar Associations. He received his law degree from the University of Colorado, where he was an intern with the National Wildlife Federation and a casenote editor of the Law Review. As an undergraduate, he attended the University of Colorado, where he received his B.A. in environmental conservation. He is a frequent lecturer at national, regional, and local conservation easement workshops.


ELIZABETH P. BRAWLEY, ESQ.
Isaacson Rosenbaum P.C.

Elizabeth P. Brawley received her law degree from the University of Colorado in 1995, where she was an articles editor of the Law Review. She also attended the University of Colorado as an undergraduate, receiving a B.A. in Environment and Public Policy in 1989. She has worked as a judicial clerk in Alaska, and spent six years with Boulder County handling real estate acquisitions for the sales-tax funded Parks and Open Space program. In private practice she has represented landowners, conservation organizations, and governmental and quasi-governmental entities in matters relating to water rights and land conservation.


CHRISTOPHER S. JENSEN
Isaacson Rosenbaum P.C.

A Colorado native, Christopher S. Jensen received his B.A. in Environmental Studies and Philosophy from the University of Colorado in 1998. He is currently a third year law student at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Before joining Isaacson Rosenbaum, Christopher served as an extern for U.S. District Judge John L. Kane in Denver. Prior to attending law school, he worked for The Nature Conservancy in Boulder.