Cloud City Conservation Center (C4)

💫2025 IMPACT🌎

Cloud City Conservation Center (C4) fosters pathways to a healthier planet and community through initiatives that inspire the conservation of our natural environment in Leadville & Lake County, Colorado. In 2025, C4 engaged over 4,000 local community members - more than 50% of Lake County residents! 

💡ENERGY EFFICIENCY

C4's Energy Efficiency Program makes Lake County homes safer and warmer, improves our aging and weatherworn local housing stock, and helps community members reduce energy and housing costs. In 2025 we supported 244 Lake County households address energy, health and safety needs in their homes, including providing free energy audits for 57 households - a 6x increase in the past year. Despite significant cuts in state and federal funding, we were still able to provide $200,700 in financial assistance so that 100% of households we supported took steps towards reducing their energy usage. 

🌱ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

We grow future stewards of our planet by teaming up with  field lessons, farm visits, classroom extensions, and career exploration. In 2025, we shared the joy and benefits of outdoor environmental education with over 1,000 youth, including over 85% of local PK-12 students. We also offered 6 paid internships where young people spent more than 2,500 hours exploring sustainable career pathways. 

🧑‍🌾SUSTAINABLE FOOD

In 2025, Cloud City Farm and Community Garden engaged more than 1 in 4 Lake County residents in building a stronger local food system. We distributed over 6,000 pounds of fresh local food - the equivalent of 4 weeks worth of produce for every food-insecure Lake County resident. We also provided community members with nearly $25,000 in resources like raised beds, soil, compost, and plant starts - supplies that are critical in our contaminated soils and unique climate.

♻️WASTE DIVERSION

In 2025, C4's waste diversion team consisted of by 368 people who put in an astonishing 2,850 hours (or 119 days straight!) of work. Through event support and composting at Cloud City Farm, this team collected more than 28 tons of waste, including diverting more than 37,000 pounds of recycling and compost away from the Lake County landfill. In partnership with the Leadville Race Series, we collected TWICE as much recycling and compost as last year en route to diverting an impressive 77% of race waste! 

☀️CLOUD CITY SOLAR

Not only did C4 save Lake County's only community solar garden (CSG) and make critical repairs to bring it back online in April 2025, we also acquired another 9 CSGs! Together, these ten CSGs will produce nearly 7,000,000 kWH of clean, renewable energy annually - enough to power nearly 1,000 households! And since C4 took ownership and made key improvements, these ten solar arrays' production is up 46% - providing an additional $422,133 in benefits and sequestering the same amount of carbon as 20,000 trees grown for 10 years. 

Read more at https://www.c4leadville.org/impact-report. 

For more about how we did this (hint-together) and what impact your gift can have, see the "YOUR IMPACT" tab 💚