Adam Beh signs on as Executive Director with Central Colorado Conservancy
Adam Beh has joined the Central Colorado Conservancy as its new executive director, bringing more than 20 years of experience in conservation and rural development to the position.
He started the job in late October, relocating from northern Colorado where he served as the Chief Conservation Officer for the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. With a focus on applied science, land stewardship and community education, he led the organization’s land stewardship investments in the Intermountain West, including public-private partnerships among federal, state and nonprofit groups.
Beh received his PhD in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from Colorado State University (2010) and is always interested in exploring the social dynamics that influence success in landscape-level conservation. He says Central Colorado Conservancy’s focus on community involvement, including the county-wide Envision process, was a strong draw.
“I wanted to stay focused on true community-based conservation efforts,” he says, adding that he is excited at the prospect of exporting the community-driven model to other places.
The Conservancy’s support of the agricultural community was another key facet in his decision. “Not every organization out there has a rural way of life component as a driver,” he says. Beh points to the Conservancy’s Hands for Lands volunteer program as a good example of reaching out to the rural community and supplying help with labor-intensive tasks such as spring ditch clearing.
Beh hopes to grow the Conservancy’s existing programs, including restoration of the Sands Lake Wildlife Area. The project serves to restore Sands Lake to enhance the site for both wildlife and citizens of Colorado using Natural Resource Damages settlement money from the California Gulch Mining Site. The project collaborates with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Southwest Conservation Corps, with volunteer help from Hands for Lands.
As well, the Conservancy recently began the Forever Chaffee project, which includes conservation easements of nearly 2,000 total acres for the Centerville Ranch, the Tri Lazy Ranch property (which connects the Centerville land east to Brown’s Canyon National Monument), and the Arrowpoint Cattle Company, which lies north of the Tri Lazy W.
He says the connectivity of lands is critical to wildlife habitat, and that the diversity among the lands supports wildlife at different stages of life. Beh says his work with birds emphasized the importance of habitat links across the landscape. “Birds need those spaces – from Canada to Mexico. It makes you think differently.”
He sees Central Colorado Conservancy as “a different type of land trust” that brings multiple resources to a property to enhance habitat, water quality and other factors that support the long-term health and beauty of the space.
Beh embraces any reason to be outside with his family and friends, and loves mountain biking, backcountry snowboarding and trekking. He can be reached at [email protected].