HomeMy WebLinkAboutEcoFlight LOS 3.15.23March 13, 2023
Laura Jane Musser Fund
318 W. 48th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55419
Re: EcoFlight Letter of Support
The Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners is pleased to submit this letter in support of EcoFlight’s grant
application to The Laura Jane Musser Foundation for their strategic overflight programs that will engage
stakeholders and decision makers in the effort to protect the Crystal River as a federally designated Wild and Scenic
River.
Pitkin County, through our local, citizen-based Crystal River Caucus, our appointed and taxpayer funded Healthy
Rivers & Streams Board, and with decades of support from the Board of County Commissioners, has long sought a
congressional designation of the Crystal River as a Wild and Scenic River. Partnership with community groups
such as EcoFlight has been a critical component of the effort to create an understanding of the present threats to the
health of the river as well as engage a community conversation around the preservation qualities and values that
merit protecting.
Pitkin County has partnered with EcoFlight on this campaign as well as others and they have a track record of
success in conservation efforts in both the Roaring Fork Valley and around the country. Pitkin County has funded
EcoFlight over the years including a $35,000 grant in 2022 and a $30,000 grant in 2021 for this effort. We
additionally have attended their flyover expeditions, participated in a documentary film on the river, and
collaborated in placement of excerpts of this film in the Aspen Pitkin County airport.
EcoFlight’s plan to conduct a series of overflights based out of Aspen, Glenwood and Gunnison airports, with river
and conservation advocates, local elected officials from the towns of Marble, Carbondale and Gunnison, as well as
Pitkin and Gunnison Counties, media, and residents of the Crystal River valley is crucial to the campaign as all
parties will need to work together to successfully create lasting protections for the Crystal River. The aerial
perspective provided on overflights is a highly effective way to educate passengers about the Crystal River
watershed and the importance of the proposed Wild and Scenic designation. These overflights are a remarkably
powerful platform for bringing together citizens with elected officials and the press to engage on the issue in a
positive way. From the seat of a small, single-engine airplane, passengers will see first-hand the scenic beauty of the
Crystal River watershed, and will gain a deeper understanding of the impacts that threats like new dams or
diversions would impose on this vital waterway.
Sincerely,
Francie Jacober, Chair
530 E. Main Street Aspen, Colorado 81611 970-920-5200