Noticias

• Federal Funding Confusion for Local Nonprofits
• Mountain Village Increases Council Pay
• Fighting Oligarchy Tour Comes to Denver

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Federal Funding Confusion for Local Nonprofits

Local climate and sustainability nonprofit Eco-Action Partners and environmental conservation nonprofit Sheep Mountain Alliance are among many organizations across the country left wondering about the status of their federal funding.

Eco-Action Partners and Sheep Mountain Alliance received a $150,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency last year. It was the first federal grant either organization had received. The three-year grant is through the EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Program.

Locally, the grant funds initiatives aimed at removing existing barriers to climate resiliency programming and increasing public health and environmental resiliency among underserved populations in the region.

Emma Gerona, executive director of Eco-Action Partners, described the current status of their grant.

“We first lost access to our grant back when the original memo was put out in late January, and there was no communication about the status of the grant,” Gerona said. “There’s been very little communication from our contacts at the EPA around what’s actually happening. The way we’ve been checking is every day seeing our grant portal and whether or not we can access our account.”

The grant, Gerona said, is reimbursement-based, with funds drawn from a federal account each month once the work is completed. After President Donald Trump ordered a federal funding freeze, confusion arose over what was happening.

“A couple weeks later, the grant came back—we were able to access it again for about a week,” Gerona said. “And then it went away again, and then it came back, and then it went away again. So it’s just been this really confusing back-and-forth of being able to access this grant and tracking down whether or not it is available because we don’t have any communication from the EPA themselves.”

Eco-Action Partners and Sheep Mountain Alliance work together on programming that includes workshops on drought resilience, wildfire preparedness, and equity in the outdoors. Typically, they are paired with an EPA project officer to assist them with technical questions, but right now, there is no one to contact.

“There’s been very little to no communication,” Gerona said. “Unfortunately, our project officer, who is the point person for our grant with the EPA, was part of the recent layoffs. So we’re kind of in between contact people right now, so that also hasn’t helped with reaching out and asking questions. They’ve been given the direction to not communicate when a lot of these things are in the air. So it’s been a lot of us reaching out and trying to set meetings, trying to get more information from email, and not really hearing anything back.”

While the status of the funding freeze remains unclear, both organizations say they remain committed to continuing their work in the community.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about what it looks like to continue working on our projects and serving our community,” said Ruthie Boyd, program director for Sheep Mountain Alliance. “And that isn’t something we want to stop depending on whether our account is frozen or not, which leaves us in an interesting place. As Emma mentioned, we have to do the work first and get paid for it later. So right now, we’re feeling committed to continuing to do the work and figuring out what that looks like moving forward—even if this grant never comes back, which we can’t really count on.”

Gerona said they have been discussing ways to diversify funding sources and leaning on individual donors.

“We’ve been spending a lot of our time over the last two months just trying to address the uncertainty and figure out what’s going on,” Gerona said. “I think we’re all kind of at the point where we’re shifting our mentality to getting back to programming and getting our heads back into the work. Trying to figure out the funding still and hoping that’ll come into place a little bit, because I think a big piece of this tactic is trying to distract people from that work that’s trying to get done and just create chaos so that people are spending their time writing back and forth with their point people or lawyers and not actually getting the work done.

“We’re really trying to get back to the programming and get our heads back to the community, like Ruthie mentioned, because that’s what really matters in this work.”

Two weeks ago, the EPA released a statement saying it had canceled more than $1.7 billion in federal grant funding for more than 400 grants, a majority of which came through President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

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Mountain Village Increases Council Pay

Those elected to the Mountain Village Town Council this June will receive a higher wage.

“In conversations I’ve been having with my neighbors and our citizens, the time commitment related to being part of this group wasn’t stacking up with locals’ ability to commit to this job,” Mayor Marti Prohaska said at a town council meeting earlier this year.

Currently, Mountain Village Town Council members make $4,800 per year, in addition to health insurance, a utility allowance, and a ski pass or wellness benefit. The mayor makes $9,600, with the same benefits.

In comparison, the Town of Telluride recently increased pay for the mayor and Town Council. They are now paid $31,000 and $21,000 a year, respectively, with health insurance and a ski pass.

The new recommendation is to eliminate Mountain Village’s utility allowance but increase the mayor’s salary to $18,970 per year and council members’ salaries to $12,400. They will also receive a ski pass, health insurance, and retirement options.

Town Council has discussed shifting compensation for several months, and after a brief discussion, passed the ordinance on second reading. That means the three council members elected this June will receive the higher pay. The remaining council members will maintain the current pay structure until, and if, they are reelected.

However, alongside the discussion regarding compensation, council members also considered adding language to clarify expectations for the time commitment required to serve.

“The biggest question I get is, ‘What is the time commitment?’ and I can’t answer that question,” Prohaska said. “There are no guidelines of what is acceptable, for how many meetings you can miss, if you work remotely, how many meetings you can work remotely. I can’t answer that question.”

Staff provided draft language stating a council member may not have more than four unexcused absences per year and may only attend four meetings virtually. However, some on the council were not fully on board.

“I think what’s really good about all the councils since I got on is council members are engaged, they come prepared, they’ve read the package, and they’re on committees. That’s what I’m expecting of my fellow council people,” Council Member Pete Duprey said.

Council Member Scott Pearson suggested including a broad attendance policy as well as a job description for the role.

“Maybe it includes quotes from council members like, ‘This is what I think this job is.’ When people ask me how much time it is, I say across the year sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less, but it’s a quarter-time job,” Pearson said. “I think that’s helpful information, but I wouldn’t want to put that in policy. So maybe we can put a light-touch formal policy and then something that gives more color and richness and different people’s perspectives on what the job entails.”

Council did not reach a decision on attendance policies or work guidelines but plans to continue the discussion.

Mountain Village is currently seeking candidates to run for Town Council. Three seats are up for election. To qualify, an individual must be a registered voter who has lived in Mountain Village as of Feb. 24, 2025—120 days before the election. Candidates must submit a letter of intent and a candidate form to the Mountain Village clerk by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 9.

The Mountain Village 2025 election will take place on Tuesday, June 24.

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Fighting Oligarchy Tour Comes to Denver

Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were in Denver last week as part of their “Fighting Oligarchy Tour”. Statehouse Reporter Lucas Brady Woods was there, and in this installment of Capitol Conversation he shares what it was like.

Story begins at 9:15.

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Conservationists, Indigenous and Latina Leaders to Share Stories at Wilkinson Library

Join conservationists, Indigenous and Latina leaders at the Wilkinson Public Library on Saturday evening for a short film and conversations about connections to the land.

Guests can share experiences and learn about what is possible. The evening will kick off with a short film, Well Worn Life, featuring Dani Reyes-Acosta.

The event will be held Saturday, March 29, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. It is made possible by The Nature Conservancy, The Telluride Foundation, and Telluride Institute.

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Patagonia Telluride Hosts Washing Party at Lawson Hill Laundromat

Is your outerwear looking a little dirty after a long ski season? Perhaps those baselayers need a good wash after a few too many powder days. Patagonia Telluride is hosting a washing party at the Laundromat in Lawson Hill.

Bring your favorite gear and learn tips and tricks on how to make your gear last and perform longer. Attendees will also receive a free beer from Telluride Brewing Company, with funds raised for local nonprofits.

Join them Thursday, March 27, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Lawson Hill Laundromat.

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Colorado Water Conservation Board Adds Three New Members

The Colorado Water Conservation Board is welcoming three new members who will help decide how to allocate funds for farms, cities, and habitats across the state.

As KUNC’s Alex Hager reports, Taylor Hawes, who currently leads Colorado River programs for the nonprofit The Nature Conservancy, will join the board after decades in water policy. She says state funding is becoming increasingly crucial.

“That will be critical, especially as we’re seeing shrinkage and a lot of uncertainty around federal funding,” Hawes said. “I think it makes the state funding even more critical to helping our water users adapt to a hotter and drier future.”

The other new members of the 15-person board are Greg Johnson, with Denver Water, and Mike Camblin, a rancher in Moffat County.