As the Fort Collins-based Legacy Land Trust prepares to celebrate the acquisition of its 40,000th acre for conservation easement later this year, an inflation and tax scandal from several years ago seems to be over for those trusts that have turned out to be legit. "The hardest part for us is the bad apples have created a lot of media buzz, and now people associate conservation easements as a scam and not above board," Legacy director Ryan Boggs tells the Coloradoan, noting, however, that the shady trusts have disappeared because the state now requires land trusts to be certified. As Legacy works to prevent development and preserve open spaces between Fort Collins and Loveland---an effort meant to make life in those areas more enjoyable---plans in Vail to build a power plant that would run on so-called biomass--fuel made from sources such as wood waste--are moving forward. The plan, writes The Colorado Independent, is expected to be good for the environment.

Meanwhile, on the down side, a new state study warns that water-strapped Colorado will probably use three times the amount of water it is using now by 2050 because of population growth, the economy, and environmental needs, according to The Associated Press. Who knows how the oil-and-gas industry will fare in the future. This year, permits for new drilling rigs and gas wells in Colorado are expected to drop by 38 percent, down from a record of 8,027 permits last year, according to the Denver Business Journal, citing new environmental rules, the recession, and dwindling demand as probable causes.