FRIENDS OF BROWNS CANYON 2025 RECAP
A NOTE FROM THE BOARD
We probably don’t need to tell you that it’s been a challenging year for public lands. National Monuments have been in the crosshairs for months. Our beloved Browns Canyon National Monument has been cited as a National Monument that could have acreage rescinded. In turn, our local officials, and our national elected delegation to Congress are examining the possibility of attaining wilderness status for Browns Canyon. If, and when, that happens is unknown. What we do know is that the short-staffed federal agencies – the BLM and USFS – responsible for managing our National Monument, must rely increasingly on Friends of Browns Canyon to provide Monument care.
As a small, volunteer-led organization without any steady stream of funding or employees, we’ve been pulling out the stops to acquire funding (more on our wins below) to help us patrol and monitor the Monument, and to prevent further use of non-system routes and trails. By installing new signage and repairing existing signage, this directs visitors to approved trails and camping locations, mitigating degradation. In addition Friends of Browns Canyon helps repair grazing fences, buck and rail, and assists with seasonal gate closures to protect wildlife. We also continue to host free public (and oversubscribed) Dark Sky events, as Browns Canyon National Monument is a certified Dark Sky International “Park.”
‘Tis the season of giving and we would love your continued support to help us protect the gem of Browns Canyon National Monument on or before Colorado Gives Day, Dec. 9. To give you a concrete idea of what your gift would accomplish, we raised funds in 2025 to purchase one electric mountain bike (at a discounted price). However, we need a second to maximize our patrols of the Monument. Covering vast distances on foot is not practical. Electric mountain bikes are an environmentally friendly means of making our rounds on the Browns Canyon National Monument boundary roads and routes to assess conditions and collect data relevant to agency management. With federal agencies currently short staffed, an additional E-bike would be of great help in supporting stewardship for the Monument. The Monument also needs interpretive signage to educate the public regarding Browns Canyon’s wildlife, geology, night-sky viewing, historical and cultural heritage. Currently interpretive signage specific to Browns Canyon National Monument is nonexistent.
This newsletter is longer than usual, but we want to catch you up on our 2025 activities and give you a peek at 2026. Our hope is that by the time you reach the end we will have convinced you the Friends of Browns Canyon is deserving of your donation dollars. Truly, any amount is appreciated and will help advance our mission.
Sincerely,
The Board of the Friends of Browns Canyon
2025 Highlights and Happenings
On June 7th, Friends of Browns Canyon participated in a nationwide day of action to support national monuments and public lands by holding a star party at the entrance to Browns Canyon National Monument. We used the occasion to show our solidarity with other nationwide groups championing the same cause.
In August we held another Dark Sky event in collaboration with GARNA. We also hosted public Dark Sky events at the Hekla Junction campground with the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area. Our superlative volunteers and astronomers extraordinaire – Tom Karnuta and Victor Aziz help make these events educational, entertaining and interactive. A huge shout out to both of them!
U.S. House Representative Brittany Pettersen paid a visit to
Browns Canyon National Monument on October 21 and enjoyed a board led hike. She’s been a tireless champion this year of protecting not only Colorado’s public lands, but public lands across the nation. We are grateful for her enthusiasm and support for our national monument.
GRANTS, AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
FOBC was hard at work this year applying for and winning (!) grant awards. We also took advantage of some matching donation opportunities through the Monarch Mountain Community Outreach program and the Sangre de Christo Electric Association (SDCEA). There is still the opportunity for us to tap up to $200 from SDCEA this current calendar year. Hence, if you are a SDCEA customer and make a donation to FOBC, you could help us earn that last portion on the match. I interested, please reach out to us at friendsofbrownscanyon@gmail.com and we will help you with the application and documentation. The clock on these matching programs resets in January, so we have the chance to leverage your donations again in 2026. Of course. Other employer matches are also always encouraged.
We received a grant from the Monarch Mountain community Outreach fund. That money, in conjunction with a mini grant from Chaffee County Common Ground and a contribution from Primo Water funded our first electric mountain bike purchase.
We received a mini grant from the Conservation Lands Foundation to support our public lands defense work and dark sky programming. The Wilderness Society has committed funds to aid on-the-ground efforts to defend and protect the National Monument in the face of continued threats to public lands.
Friends of Browns Canyon was selected as the Nonprofit of the Quarter by the Salida Chamber of Commerce in July and featured on the Chamber’s website.
PUBLIC LANDS NEWS
On Nov. 10, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.-02) and US Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) led efforts to protect public lands via the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Public Lands Rule.
The Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, or Public Lands Rule, provides the BLM with modern, science-based tools needed to protect more than 245 million acres of public lands, including 8.3 million acres in Colorado. The rule directs BLM to give conservation oriented activities such as landscape restoration, habitat conservation, responsible development, and the protection of cultural and natural resources, footing equal to commercial activities such as grazing and mining. It was adopted with broad public support in April 2024.
In their Nov. 10 letter, the lawmakers highlighted that nearly 92 percent of more than 150,000 comments submitted on the proposed Public Lands Rule were in support. Numerous local and state officials, Tribal governments, scientists, businesses, and other stakeholders throughout the West advocated for the rule.
The public comment period on the proposed rescission has ended.
BUSINESS SPONSORS AND MERCH
We launched a new Business Sponsorship program this year to help fund our activities. We are grateful to the sponsors acknowledged below and listed on the BrownsCanyon.org website (with links to their businesses).
Friends of Browns Canyon also has merchandise for sale to help support us and increase our visibility. If you are interested in purchasing a hat or t-shirt with the FOBC logo (image on next page) or want to add your name to our growing list of sponsors, please contact us at friendsofbrownscanyon@gmail.com
Thank You to Our Sponsors
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2026
We have two additions to our board: Tom Karnuta, one of our astronomy volunteers, and Joe Bissonette, owner of Sky View Tents in Buena Vista. We have drafted a new strategic plan to keep us grounded (while still reaching for the stars). We will start planning summer hikes, workdays, and dark sky events over the coming months. We are also just a couple YEARS away from the 25th anniversary of the founding of Friends of Browns Canyon. We are in the initial stages of planning a celebratory event to mark the occasion. IF you have program ideas or otherwise want to get involved with FOBC in any way, please reach out to us.
Thanks for reading and see you in Browns Canyon National Monument!
