This article was originally published in the Vail Daily on 3/23/2022. Read it on Vail Daily online. 

The Land & Rivers Fund launched in 2017 to support the work of the Eagle River Watershed Council and Eagle Valley Land Trust. These two organizations are the only nonprofits in the valley working exclusively on conserving, protecting and restoring land and rivers in Eagle County.

The program works with local businesses to add a small — typically 1% — surcharge to their customer’s bills, which customers can easily opt out of if they’d like. Rarely does this happen though, because most people are happy to make the small contribution to support local conservation efforts.

At the Land & Rivers Fund’s inception, the George Family Foundation supported the program by awarding a three-year grant to get the program off the ground. We are grateful for this grant, and are happy to report that the program is now fully self-sustaining!

Major Milestone

We are also thrilled to announce that the Land & Rivers Fund program has collected more than half million dollars in donations and grants! This milestone wouldn’t be possible without the support of all the participating businesses involved in the program, as well as all the customers who support those businesses. Their commitment to our local land and rivers is enormously appreciated, and boosts the work of both Eagle River Watershed Council and the Eagle Valley Land Trust.

If your business is interested in learning more about joining the Land & Rivers Fund, please contact Sue Nikolai at sue@landandrivers.org or go to our website at LandAndRivers.org.

Listed below are all the businesses currently participating in the program. Thank you for supporting them to help ensure we have open space, protected lands, clean water, lush riparian areas, migration corridors, wildlife habitat and healthy land and rivers for generations to come.

Thank you to the following businesses for their support of this program.

• 714 Home
• A Good Sport
• Alpine Quest Sports
• Balance Point Construction
• Bishop Shreds
• Cut
• Drunken Goat
• Ethos Landscaping
• Fancy Pansy
• Fill & Refill
• Form Attainment Studio
• Jerry Sibley Plumbing
• Main Street Grill
• Maker + Stitch
• Mauka Poke’ Bar
• Minturn Anglers
• Motley Fabrics
• Quiet Kat
• R Farmers’ Market
• Riverwalk Theater
• Roam
• Rob Schilling-Coldwell Banker
• Sendy Sauce
• Sunrise/Moonrise Minturn
• Sweet Leaf Pioneer
• The Bunkhouse
• Trick Threads
• Tu Casa Mexican Restaurant
• Two Arrows Coffee
• Unravel Coffee
• Up The Creek
• UPS Stores
• Vail Fine Wines
• Vail Valley Rolfing
• Vela Apparel
• Village Bagel
• Yoga Off Broadway

We are so grateful for the support!

Sue Nikolai, Program Director, Land & Rivers Fund

Eagle