Charles Curtin

Charles Curtin

In mid-April, Colorado Headwaters Land Trust (CHLT) welcomed Charles Curtin as their new Executive Director. Curtin has relocated to Grand County from Livingston, Montana where he worked with the University of Montana and local NGOs to sustain ranching communities in large landscapes in Canada and the USA. Program development in collaborative conservation has been the focus of Curtin’s career. In addition to helping establish programs at MIT and other universities he has helped developed a number of the largest conservation programs in North America, including the million-acre Malpai Borderlands Conservation Area, cross-site studies of climate change spanning the Intermountain West, and the 750,000 square-mile Downeast Initiative in the Western Atlantic off the coast of Maine.  

Curtin is a clear fit for Grand County, as he brings two decades of experience in collaborative conservation in rural communities, including extensive experience in Colorado. Curtin has published more than 80 articles, books, and monographs on conservation science, including a recent book from Island Press, The Science of Open Spaces, on collaborative conservation, sustainable resource management and policy design. “Conservation of rural communities in complex social and ecological environments have long been the focal elements of my career,” said Curtin. This career has taken him around the world, as he has coordinated conservation and restoration projects in North America, East Africa and the Middle East. He is also a passionate skier, hiker, biker, and paddler as well as bluegrass banjo picker. Curtin lives with his border collie, an Andean Red Footed Tortoise, and Maine Coon cat in Kremmling.

Curtin joins a small staff and volunteer Board of Directors at Colorado Headwaters Land Trust, a state certified and nationally accredited organization. The land trust currently holds 63 conservation easements in Grand County, totaling 8,826 acres that can never be developed or subdivided.

For more information about CHLT or to make a donation, please call 970-887-1177, email info@coloradoheadwaterslandtrust.org, or visit our office at 52 North First Street in Granby.

Contact: Anna Drexler-Dreis, Programs Manager
Colorado Headwaters Land Trust
anna@coloradoheadwaterslandtrust.org