The Colorado River is a vital resource for the native animals, ecosystems and communities that define much of the American West. Now, even businesses whose work doesn’t directly rely on the river are emerging as leaders in conserving this precious resource. In Grand Junction, Colorado, Grady Busse of Action Publishing worked with Walton Family Foundation grantee the Tamarisk Coalition, as well as Western Colorado Conservation Corps youth, to restore a section of the riverfront behind his business. Below, Busse describes why he chose to make riverfront conservation a priority and how it has benefited his staff.

Why is conservation important to Action Publishing?

Part of it has to do with being a good corporate citizen. When you run any sort of business, you have a certain negative impact on the environment. We like to do everything we can to offset that impact.

How did you decide that removing tamarisk along the riverfront was a conservation issue you wanted to get involved in?

The tamarisk in our area is a fairly severe problem in terms of water consumption – each plant consumes an enormous amount of water daily. And part of it has to do with aesthetics. From where our building sits, the tamarisk blocks the view of the lake. The reason the building’s in this location down by the river in the first place is because I wanted to spend my days in a really pleasant place surrounded by nature, and to offer that to staff.

It’s important to me to provide a good workplace. We spend a lot of time at work and it’s nice to have a beautiful place to spend that time. This is an amazing opportunity to be able to locate a factory building right next to the lake and the Colorado River.

In what ways do you see riverfront conservation benefiting Action Publishing staff?

It has been interesting – since we eliminated the tamarisk, our staff uses the lake a lot more because it’s accessible. You’ll see people on their lunch-hour break down there skimming stones or just sitting on the shore.

We’ve got an amazing trail system throughout the Grand Valley. Whether our staff uses the trail system to commute or just at lunch and on breaks, elimination of that tamarisk along the property line removed a barrier. It’s been more inviting, and it’s been really great to see the utilization of the trails and the lake increase with that. For a lot of the employees at Action [Publishing], I think this building and our location provides their best opportunity to interface with nature.

Do you hope Action Publishing’s efforts will inspire other businesses to embrace the benefits of conservation too?

I like to set a little bit of a bar from a small-business owner’s perspective in Grand Junction. If everybody would do just a little bit, we could accomplish a lot. We do have a really active business incubator in Grand Junction located upstream from us on the Gunnison River, and they’re starting to take down fences and make the river a little more accessible. And oddly, the riverfront in Grand Junction is primarily occupied by business and industry. If I can do a little bit on my property, maybe that’ll encourage others to do a little bit as well.