Colorado Open Lands
The George E. Cranmer Award
The 2009 Awardee
More About the Award
Previous Honorees
Our 2009 Awardee: Jay Fetcher
Chairs: the Honorable Ken Salazar, Bill Fales
Every year since 1992, Colorado Open Lands has awarded the George E. Cranmer Award to someone who has distinguished themselves in open space preservation. Award recipients are individuals who have gone above and beyond what others have done and often get things completed through determination and force of personality. They leave behind a legacy that will be valued and enjoyed for generations to come. This year’s winner is just such a person.
Jay Fetcher’s ties to Colorado agriculture and conservation run deep. He grew up on the family ranch and after receiving a degree in Animal Science from the University of Wyoming, he returned to his family’s ranch to take over the operation. In 1980, he received a Masters Degree in Genetics from Colorado State University.
In 1994, the Fetchers decided that they wanted their land near Steamboat Springs to be a ranch forever and to be able to pass it on to their children. After creating their ranch’s conservation easement, Jay went to the board of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and suggested it start a land trust. The Association voted to become the first mainstream agricultural organization in the nation to form a land trust, which was officially incorporated in 1995 as the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust.
Jay has worked diligently for land preservation as a founding member and past president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust. Jay’s community service record is also impressive, and includes serving on the Boards of the Colorado Water Trust, the Colorado Environmental Coalition, the Steamboat Springs School District and Education Fund, the North Routt Fire Protection District, the Yampa Valley Medical Center, and as a founding member of the Community Agricultural Alliance. He served on the Governor’s Agriculture Land Conversion task force during 1995 and he is a member of the Routt County Cattlemen and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. He has also served as regional representative in Northwest Colorado for Senator Ken Salazar and now serves in the same role for Senator Mark Udall.
In 1997, Jay received the American Land Conservation Award, which recognizes outstanding volunteer leadership in land and water conservation. In April 2009, he received the William Funk Award from the Nonprofit Association of Colorado, which honors acknowledged leaders who can unify people and organizations around a common cause.
Over the years, Jay’s insight and hard work for the land trust movement and conservation have proven invaluable. Jay has become a trusted source for those considering conservation easements. Colorado Open Lands is proud to present this year’s George E. Cranmer Award to Jay Fetcher.
The Cranmer Award
The award is a replica of the sundial in Cranmer Park placed near the terrazzo silhouette of the mountains of the Front Range. As a symbol of the vision, courage, and leadership of George E. Cranmer, the sundial is a logical choice for Colorado Open Lands to present to an individual who visualizes the future and acts to direct its course so we may have places for recreation, for refreshing the human spirit, and for the preservation of the natural world.
The sandstone of the sundial in Cranmer Park came from Lyons, Colorado. It is 5'5" thick and extends two feet below the pavement. In his inimitable style, Cranmer wrote in 1950 that "the sundial is only seventeen seconds of time east of the 105th Meridian on which Mountain Time is based, and since the whole setting is so accurate, one can set his watch by it." Erickson Monument, makers of the original sundial, have created the award replica.
Previous Honorees
Cranmer 2008
Honoree: Tom Swanson
(The Nature Conservancy, Board of Land Commissioners, Colorado Conservation Trust, Mountain Area Land Trust, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Great Outdoors Colorado)
Chairs:
Phil James, George Sparks, Charlie Meyers
Cranmer 2007
Honoree: Chips Barry
(Denver Water, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Trustee of the Colorado Chapter of the Nature Conservancy)
Chairs:
Dan Luecke & Harris Sherman
Cranmer 2006
Honoree: Phil James
(The Nature Conservancy, Colorado Wildlife Commission, Nebraska Wildlife Federation)
Chairs: Mark Burget, Russell George, and Tom Swanson
Cranmer 2005
Honoree: Bill Vollbracht
(Colorado Open Lands, Land Title Guarantee)
Chairs: John Freyer and Ray Baker
Cranmer 2004
Honoree: Elizabeth H. Richardson
(Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, Colorado Open Space Council, Colorado Open Lands, The Greenway Foundation, New Mexico Land Conservancy, South Metro Land Conservancy, Thorne Ecological Institute)
Chairs: Congressman Scott McInnis and Congressman Mark Udall
Cranmer 2003
Honoree: Sydney Shafroth Macy
(The Conservation Fund, Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, Wilderness Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy)
Chairs: Chips Barry and Joe Blake
Cranmer 2002
Honoree: Joanne Ditmer
(Columnist with the Denver Post, founder of Historic Denver)
Chair: Dean Singleton
Cranmer 2001
Honoree: Stuart Dodge
(Palmer Foundation, Pike's Peak Greenway)
Chairs: Judy Fisher and Ellen K. Fisher
Cranmer 2000
Honoree: Bill Trampe and Susan Lohr
(Board of Gunnison Legacy Conservation Fund)
Chairs: Sue Anschutz Rodgers and Edward Callaway
Cranmer 1999
Honoree: Joy Hilliard
(Well-known philanthropist, TNC and Outward Bound Board member, fly fisher)
Chairs: Harry Lewis, Tom Swanson, and Michael Wilfley
Cranmer 1998
Honoree: George Beardsley
(Early COL Board member, former GOCO Board member, developer)
Chairs: George S. Writer, Jr.
Cranmer 1997
Honoree: John Fielder
(Photographer, former GOCO Board member)
Chairs: Tom Barron and Bill Vollbracht
Cranmer 1996
Honoree: James M. Robb
(Former state representative from Grand Junction, visionary and consensus builder for the Riverfront project, formerly on State Parks Board)
Chair: Hamlet "Chips" Barry
Cranmer 1995
Honoree: Betty Feazel
(Southwest Land Alliance)
Chairs: Harris Sherman and Morley Ballantine
Cranmer 1994
Honoree: David Harrison
(GOCO, The Nature Conservancy)
Chair: John Scully
Cranmer 1993
Honoree: Joe Shoemaker
(South Platte River)
Chairs: Mayor Wellington Webb and Mayor Bill McNichols
Cranmer 1992
Honoree: Chuck Froelicher
(Gates Foundation Executive Director)
Chairs: Charles Gates, Tom Stokes, and Tim Schultz