A $600,000 grant will help fund a project to revamp Reed Park in Fruita, including the addition of a skate and wheel park.

A second, $87,000 grant will fund the development of a comprehensive plan for land conservation efforts in Western Colorado.

The Great Outdoors Colorado board awarded the grants to the City of Fruita and Colorado West Land Trust.

The City of Fruita plans to revamp Reed Park. The upgrades, scheduled for completion by spring 2024, will include improvements to the pavilion, a modern playground, new basketball court with a multi-use sports court and the skate and wheel park.

“With GOCO’s generous support, we are able to upgrade the park with amenities that will serve the Fruita community for years to come,” said Marc Mancuso, parks and recreation director. “Bringing this destination skate/wheel park to Fruita would not be possible without this funding. Now, Reed Park can more fully serve not only the Fruita community, but families throughout the Grand Valley.”

The second grant will help the Colorado West Land Trust develop a comprehensive stewardship plan to guide its efforts for the next decade as well as address natural resource issues related to climate change, development pressures and outdoor recreation.

Based in Grand Junction, the land trust has conserved a total of more than 126,000 acres in Mesa County and five other Western Slope counties under conservation easements.

The land trust also plans to develop restoration and resiliency building projects that engage landowners, partners and other land trusts that hold conservation easements in the region to improve landscapes at scale and gain insights that could be used by other organizations in their conservation efforts.

“With the long-term drought, we are seeing an increased need to partner with landowners to provide stewardship and restoration resources such as wildfire mitigation, riparian and wet meadow habitat improvements and soil health work,” said Ilana Moir, director of conservation at CWLT. “This grant will help us kick off this work. We will create a robust stewardship and implementation plan that will allow us to partner with landowners and others in a focused way to get the best work done on the ground. We look forward to increasing our stewardship offerings in the months and years to come.”

CWLT is also working to raise a 52 percent match towards the project. The West Region Wildfire Council and local foundations also support the plan.

Great Outdoors Colorado invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to preserve and improve open spaces, parks, rivers, trails and wildlife habitat. To date, GOCO has invested more than $48.4 million in projects in Mesa County and partnered to conserve 18,284 acres of land there. Funding has supported the Colorado Riverfront Trail, Highline Lake State Park and the Las Colonias and Riverbend parks, among other projects.