Colorado Open Lands

Who We Are

"Putting our land under a Conservation Easement with Colorado Open Lands has fulfilled our goal of saving a small piece of paradise for others to enjoy in the future. Working with COL was a delight! Every question answered... every detail handled...easily and smoothly.” Deb Lathrop, Moon Mountain Ranch

Our Board of Directors follows a business-like approach to advancing our mission and is comprised of a cross-section of business, civic, agricultural, political and conservation leaders. This unique group of individuals provides strong governance, fiscal responsibility, and the organization’s entrepreneurial spirit. Armed with a skilled staff, Colorado Open Lands is sophisticated enough to tackle large, complex projects (we hold the largest donated conservation easement in Colorado), but agile enough to be lean, responsive and effective in the private real estate market.

 

Colorado Open Land's Board Bios

Charles Russell, C/A Russell Partners LLP (Chairman)
is a principal of the public relations firm, C.A. Russell Partners.  He has served on the Board of Directors of Colorado Open Lands since 1993 and as Chairman since 2002.  He is a past director of Colorado Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Trail Foundation.  He is a past recipient of Trout Unlimited’s national Conservationist of the Year and the Sol Feinstone Environmental Award by the State University of New York.Want to know more about Charles Russell, click here...


Back to topRussell B. Caldwell, is the President of The Russell Caldwell Company, a municipal financial advisory company formed in the last quarter of 2012 after thirty-one continuous years in the municipal bond business.  His career spanned six firms all of which were based in Denver, Colorado.  Additionally, Mr. Caldwell served as Director of the Division of Commerce and Development for the State of Colorado from 1976 to 1981.  Mr. Caldwell has been a guest lecturer at the University of Colorado School of Business, the Mesa Sate College MPA program and has taught a technical series on assessment district finance at the Denver Regional Council of Governments.


Back to top Robert H. Deline, Monaghan Management Corp., is the president of Monaghan Management Corp., a real estate management company specializing in agricultural and commercial properties in the west. A second generation native of Colorado, he is primarily interested in raising wheat, cattle, and thoroughbred horses. He has an MBA in real estate and construction management from the University of Denver.


Back to top Rebecca Frank, A Colorado native, Rebecca Frank is the longest-ever serving commissioner on the Colorado Wildlife Commission and served as the commission’s representative to the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund.  Rebecca is currently president of the board of Grand Valley Catholic Outreach, chair of The Aspinall Foundation, and on the Mesa Valley School District Accountability Committee.  She has also served on the Intermountain West Joint Venture Board, Colorado Duck Stamp Committee, Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation, Colorado Scenic Highways and Byways Commission and Grand Junction/Mesa County Riverfront Commission, among others.


Back to topLarry J. Hauserman, FirstBank, is co-Chairman of the Board of FirstBank Holding Company of Colorado, having worked for the organization for over 28 years.  Formerly Chairman of Children’s Hospital, he has served on the Board for the last 10 years.  He is a member of many community organizations.


Back to topScott McInnis, U.S. Congress (Ret), a former Partner at Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. who focused on Energy, Natural Resources and Tax and Finance.  Scott served in the U.S. House of Representatives 1992 – 2004, serving on the Ways and Means Committee, Forest Subcommittee and Natural Resource Committee.  His highest honor is having a 200,000 acre area named McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area in 2003, in recognition of his service to the Nation and the State.


Back to top Tim Schultz, Boettcher Foundation,
has served as President of the Boettcher Foundation, the seventh largest Foundation in Colorado, since 1996.  A Colorado native, Tim is from Grand Junction. In the past, Tim has served as County Commissioner of Rio Blanco, Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Executive Director of the Department of Local Affairs, and Chairman of the Colorado Economic Development Commission.  From 1991 until the beginning of his tenure at the Boettcher Foundation, Tim was the President and Chairman of Colorado Open Lands. Tim continues to be deeply involved in the state of Colorado and has maintained his ties with Colorado’s rural communities as organizer of the Denver Rustlers, a group that supports young Coloradoans at the Colorado State Fair. Find out more about Tim Schultz here...


Back to topWes Segelke, Wes Segelke & Co., founded his real estate investment company in 1968.  He is involved in all phases and types of commercial, investment, residential, and agricultural real estate. Mr. Segelke currently serves on numerous boards including the Denver Board of Realtors, First National Bank of Telluride, the National Western Stock Show Association, and the State Board of Agriculture.  He also served for 10 years as Director and Officer of Sewell Rehabilitation Center in Denver. A native of Colorado, Mr. Segelke has had a lifelong involvement in farm and ranch ownership, operations, and management.  He is a graduate of Colorado State University.


Back to top Rodney E. Slifer, Slifer, Smith & Frampton/Vail Associates,
 is a partner of Slifer, Smith & Frampton/Vail Associates, LLC.  Currently, re-elected as mayor of the Town of Vail, Rod continues to be actively involved in the affairs of the community.





Back to top William B. Vollbracht, Land Title Guarantee,
 is currently Chairman of Land Title Guarantee Company, a company he founded in 1967.  He was introduced to Colorado Open Lands when, in 1987, he bought a ranch at the base of Mount Evans, which was part of the historic Evans Ranch, the first major project ever done by Colorado Open Lands.  He has served on the Boards of many non-profits over the years. More on Mr. Vollbracht here...


Back to top Ruth Wright, Attorney,
 is currently a practicing attorney in Boulder, CO and is admitted to practice law in all Colorado State Courts.  Currently, she serves on the boards of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the CU Museum, and the Colorado Water Trust.  From 1993-1999, Ruth was a Trustee of the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, and from 1980-1994, she was a State Representative for Boulder, CO, during which time she was the House Minority Leader from 1986-1992.  Ruth has served on numerous other boards and committees with distinction, and received a variety of awards.

 


Back to topColorado Open Lands' Staff Bios

Daniel E. Pike, President,
Danjoined Colorado Open Lands after 20 years in conservation real estate in Colorado.  Dan ccame to Colorado in 1975 as Director of the Rocky Mountain Field Office of the Nature Conservancy managing the programs in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming.  A founder and principal in the Western Land Group, he specialized in completing land exchanges with government agencies from 1981 to 1996.  Dan was a founding Board Member of both the Mountain Area Land Trust and the Gunnison Ranchland Conservation Legacy, an agricultural land preservation group; he has served on conservation commissions for three different Governors, and was the first Chair of the Colorado Conservation Easement Oversight Commission.  He has been President of Colorado Open Lands since 1997.

E-mail address: dpike (at) coloradoopenlands.org

Phone: 1.303.988.2373 Ext: 216

Back to top
Cheryl Fox, Director of Development & Administration,
Cheryl Foxhas worked in fundraising for the past twenty years.  Formerly, she worked as the Director of Foundations with the Land Trust Alliance, the national organization of land trusts, and as the Development Coordinator for The Conservation Fund, a national land trust.  A graduate of the University of Colorado and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Cheryl has her Masters degree in Philanthropy and Development.

E-mail address: cfox (at) coloradoopenlands.org

Phone: 1.303.988.2373 Ext: 218

Back to topCheryl Cufre, Director of Land Stewardship,
Cheryl Wagnerjoined Colorado Open Lands as a Land Steward with over 9 years experience with Geographic Information Systems and having worked previously as a rangeland consultant and GIS specialist.  Growing up on a small farm in Wisconsin, Cheryl moved to Colorado in 1996 and fell in love with its short-grass prairies.  Cheryl has a M.S. in Rangeland Ecosystem Science from Colorado State University and a B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado.  Her graduate research at CSU focused on investigating community-based collaborative resource management processes in northwest Colorado.  Her interest in rangeland ecology has also led her to the semi-arid Chaco ecosystem of Argentina where she worked with ecologists and ranchers in developing improved range management strategies for subsistence ranching.

Email address: ccufre (at) coloradoopenlands.org

Phone: 1.303.988.2373 Ext: 219

Back to topAmanda Nims, Land Protection Specialist,
Amanda Nimsjoined Colorado Open Lands in October 2010, after working as a Land Protection Specialist for The Nature Conservancy of Rhode Island and a Conservation Projects Coordinator for the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust in rural North Central Massachusetts. Before this, Amanda was employed by the USDA's Farm Service Agency as a Program Technician, where she was responsible for administering federal farm bill programs primarily to dairy farmers, and for mapping county farmlands with GIS. Amanda grew up on her family’s farm in Western Massachusetts, and managed it before it changed hands in 2005. In 2006 Amanda was chosen to attend the Conservation Fund and Land Trust Alliance’s Conservation Leadership Program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she focused on land use and conservation, and an associate’s degree from Greenfield Community College (MA), where she studied human ecology and environmental studies. Amanda loves to cook, is the president of the South Meadows Cemetery (circa 1793), and is thrilled to join the Colorado conservation community.

Email address: anims (at) coloradoopenlands.org

Phone: 1.303.988.2373 Ext: 215

Back to topSarah Parmar, Land Protection Specialist,
Sarah McDonaldused her powers of persuasion to convince Colorado Open Lands to keep her after she finished the COL Fellowship Program.  Sarah will be focusing her time on the Southern Sangre de Cristo landscape, furthering the goals of the Keep it Colorado Initiative.  Sarah came to COL from the hot Arizona sun where she completed her M.S. in Agricultural & Resource Economics, conducting research on land and wildlife issues, especially on the law of conservation easements. A graduate fellowship gave her the opportunity to work with communities and policymakers on proactive land use planning measures in Arizona and an internship with the African Conservation Centre in Nairobi enabled her to work on conservation and property rights issues with pastoral communities in Kenya. Her passion for Western land protection stems from her background growing up as the fifth generation on a cattle ranch in Southeastern Arizona, where her parents and their ranching community established the Malpai Borderlands Group, a collaborative conservation organization.

Email address: sparmar (at) coloradoopenlands.org

Phone: 1.303.988.2373 Ext: 220

Back to topChristine Strickland, Development Coordinator,
Christine Stricklandis both a former Land Protection Fellow and Land Protection Specialist.  She has worked in the non-profit environmental field for over fifteen years on issues ranging from public lands management, grazing impacts, and wilderness user management to private land conservation, corporate sustainable development, and land re-acquisition for conservation purposes.  A graduate from the College of Wooster and the State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Christine has a B.A. in Biology and an M.S. in Environmental Land Use Planning.

Email address: cstrickland (at) coloradoopenlands.org

Phone: 1.303.988.2373 Ext: 212

Back to top

Joel Nystrom, Land Stewardship Specialist, joined Colorado Open Lands in April 2013 after working with The Nature Conservancy - Colorado and Colorado Parks & Wildlife. Joel holds a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University with a concentration in Ecosystem Science and Conservation, and a B.A. in Sociology from Texas A&M University, where he focused on socio-environmental interactions. Joel is excited to help COL protect and steward Colorado’s amazing open spaces and natural heritage.

Back to topVolunteers & Contractors

Tessa Goldhamer, Volunteer Land Protection Assistant,
 has volunteered for Colorado Open Lands for more than 5 year. She is a former Partner at the Denver law firm of Holland & Hart where she practiced real estate law for 18 years.  She worked as the Planning Director for Greenwood Village in the early 1970's and served on several committees at the Denver Regional Council of Governments.  Her undergraduate studies were in architecture and urban planning. Her knowledge and skills are an incredible asset to Colorado Open Lands.

Back to top Elizabeth H. Richardson, Stewardship Volunteer,
worked for Colorado Open Lands for 11 years before retiring early in 2001.  She was the Government Affairs Coordinator at Rocky Mountain Energy Company (formerly a subsidiary of Union Pacific), and Administrative Assistant to Governor Richard D. Lamm. A graduate of Radcliffe College, Elizabeth has Masters Degrees in both Public and Business Administration.  Although Elizabeth retired from Colorado Open Lands almost 9 and a half years ago, she has continued to volunteer for us. With her unique knowledge of the properties she helped to protect and her special relationship with the landowners she has known for many years, she dedicates much time and energy each summer to monitoring many of our conservation easements.

Back to topRandy Moore, Stewardship & Development Volunteer,
has made a significant contribution to Colorado Open Lands for the last two and half years. His enthusiasm for meeting landowners, caring for our properties, and pursuing new grant opportunities has been vital to our success. His generous spirit and warm personality has quickly made him a wonderful addition to our team.

Back to top