Recently, PilotMag had the opportunity to fly the foothills of Colorado on a beautiful April morning to a 1800 acre ranch west of Castle Rock, in the shadow of Elephant Rock. In an effort to be philanthropic as well as a good environmental steward, PilotMag sent out an email message to the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts (CCLT) to market our skills as pilots and donate survey flights for the various land conservation organizations in the state. We figured we could survey properties twice as fast from the air than on the ground. It would also lead us to interesting places in the state to land and fly. (Totally selfish reasons, really).

The Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts is the collective voice for land conservation in Colorado. They spread my message to land trusts and local government open space programs which have collectively protected over 2 million acres of Colorado’s wildlife habitat, working farms and ranches, and significant natural landscapes, that we were available to help in any way we could. One of the members of CCLT, Colorado Opens Lands has sent us out on various mission surveys taking photographs. In their latest newsletter, they sent out “A Big Thank You…”

“Colorado Open Lands would like to give special thanks to Gates Scott, a commercial helicopter pilot and publisher of PilotMag. Gates sent out an email offering to donate his time and helicopters to assist in monitoring conservation easements. Colorado Open Lands took him up on the offer and has monitored 12 easements in 2008 and over 6 already this year. We are able to monitor over eight easements in one short morning flight, saving Colorado Open Lands a great deal of resources compared to monitoring it from the ground”,. Says Mo Ewing, Director of Land Stewardship, Colorado Open Lands.

Flying these missions are gratifying. We feel good about contributing to a very worthy cause. At the same time, we are promoting a positive message of the practicality and usefulness of aviation. In order to preserve our livelihood, our hobby, and the love of flight, we have to adopt a “stewardship” mentality. We should be stewards to the environment and our occupation. Find a cause that means something to you. Try to attach aviation to it. Your service will be appreciated and you will continue to promote what you love to do. (Not to mention the video you can shoot). Aviation is under some serious scrutiny at the moment, so let’s find as many ways that we can to help undo its vilification.

PilotMag is dedicated to being a better environmental steward in Colorado. Check out our video with Colorado Open Lands PilotMag’s Conservancy Flight