Building Western Resilience
A place to learn. A place to connect. A place to act.
Western Resilience Center is creating a permanent regional hub where residents, businesses, local governments, nonprofits, educators, and partners can work together to strengthen the resilience of Northwestern Colorado. The Center will be a place where people can learn together, connect across sectors, translate science into action, collaborate on solutions to achieve measurable impact and scale those impacts regionally.
Why Now
Northwest Colorado is undergoing rapid changes that affect every sector, ranging from agriculture and recreation to housing, transportation, public health, and natural resources. The impacts of hotter temperatures, decreasing snowpack, changing water supplies, increasing wildfire risk, growing energy demands interact in complex ways, and present challenges that require cross-sector thinking, diverse knowledge based on different experiences and observations, mutual learning and collaboration.
Our region needs a place to gather, learn, connect and take action. A place to catalyze community action and grow our regional leadership for climate resilience. The purpose of Western Resilience Center is to foster connection, learning and action to increase regional climate resilience.
More Than a Building
The Western Resilience Center is not simply constructing a building. We are establishing Northwestern Colorado’s regional hub for resilience – a trusted place where people from diverse backgrounds, expertise and sectors come together to exchange ideas, build partnerships, share knowledge, collaborate on solutions, and work side by side to innovate and proactively address today’s challenges and prepare for the future.
For more than 16 years, Western Resilience Center (formerly Yampa Valley Sustainability Council) has worked alongside residents and more than 90 partner groups including businesses, local governments, schools, utilities and more to advance science-based, locally relevant solutions that strengthen our region.
Whether restoring forests and rivers, helping homeowners improve energy efficiency, expanding clean transportation options, reducing waste, supporting beneficial electrification, or protecting water resources, our goal has remained the same: Help Northwestern Colorado build the knowledge, partnerships, and leadership needed to thrive in a rapidly changing environment.
The new Center gives our work a permanent home and place to connect. It opens the door to partnerships and diverse inputs. It creates a place where we can regionally define and showcase what it means to build resilience in a rapidly changing West.
Why a Regional Hub Matters
The Center helps local action create regional impact.
A Trusted Resource: Community members can discover science-based information, explore proven solutions, attend workshops, connect with experts, and find meaningful ways to help build a more resilient Northwestern Colorado.
Strengthening our region’s long-term capacity: Connecting local leadership with state and federal programs, technical expertise, funding opportunities, and collaborative initiatives that help communities scale successful solutions throughout Northwestern Colorado.
A place to learn.
Western Resilience Center will make it easier to explore ideas that strengthen our homes, businesses, and communities. Through interactive exhibits, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, and educational programs, visitors can discover practical approaches to energy, water, transportation, land stewardship, waste reduction, and healthy buildings. Whether you’re just beginning to explore these topics or looking for the next step, the Center will connect you with trusted information, local expertise, and real-world solutions.
A place to connect.
Some of our region’s greatest accomplishments have come from people working together, and the Center is being designed to foster even more of those connections. As a welcoming gathering place, the Center will bring together all stakeholders, including nonprofits, businesses, local governments, educators, researchers, and community members to exchange ideas, develop partnerships, and move projects forward. By creating space for collaboration, the Center will help strengthen the relationships that make our communities more resilient.
A place to act.
Strong communities are built by people who are willing to step forward and work together to take action. The Center will empower local action and connect Northwestern Colorado with state and federal resources, technical expertise, funding opportunities, and emerging best practices. By strengthening local leadership and encouraging regional collaboration, the center will help build the leadership and capacity our communities need to respond, adapt, and thrive.
A living model for a resilient West
The building itself tells a story. Every feature has been intentionally designed to demonstrate solutions that visitors can see, understand, and replicate in their own homes, businesses, schools, and communities. Rather than simply talking about resilience, the Center will allow people to experience it firsthand.
Beneficial Electrification
Buildings are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Routt County, making them one of the greatest opportunities to reduce our community’s carbon impact. Working alongside the Routt County Climate Action Plan Collaborative, Western Resilience Center is helping lead the effort to electrify 10,000 homes and buildings across the region by 2050. By incorporating net-zero operational design strategies into the Center, visitors can see these technologies in action, ask questions, and learn how similar upgrades can improve comfort, reduce emissions, and prepare homes and businesses for the future.
Ground-source Geothermal Heating & Cooling
The Center’s ground-source geothermal system will demonstrate how all-electric heating and cooling can provide year-round comfort while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. By showcasing this technology in a real-world setting, the Center allows homeowners, builders, architects, and community leaders to see how geothermal technology works and explore where it makes sense throughout Northwestern Colorado.
Solar Energy
The Center’s solar energy system demonstrates how renewable energy can work alongside beneficial electrification to power high-performance buildings. Visitors will be able to learn how solar fits into a broader energy strategy while exploring the financial, environmental, and community benefits of renewable energy.
Historic Preservation
Preserving the historic 1907 Bogue House reflects our belief that resilience includes honoring the places that connect us to our community while thoughtfully preparing them for the future.
Yampascaping
The Center’s Yampascape will demonstrate how beautiful, water-wise landscapes can thrive using native and climate-adapted plants that support pollinators, improve soil health, and require significantly less irrigation than traditional lawns. As a living demonstration garden, the landscape will inspire homeowners, businesses, and developers with ideas they can incorporate into their own projects.
Healthy Building Design
The places where we live, work, and gather have a direct impact on our lives. The Center is being designed to feel as good as it functions. Natural daylight, improved indoor air quality, and comfortable gathering spaces will create an inviting place for workshops, meetings, and everyday conversations. As people spend time in the Center, they’ll experience how thoughtful design can support both the people who use the building and its performance.
A Place for Collaboration
More than meeting space, the Center will feature hands-on educational displays and convening spaces and serve as a catalyst for the conversations, partnerships, and shared leadership needed to build a more resilient Northwestern Colorado. By creating opportunities for collaboration, the Center will strengthen partnerships, encourage innovation, and help move regional projects from ideas to action.
Help build Western Resilience
Construction of the Western Resilience Center represents an investment in the long-term resilience, prosperity, and leadership of Northwestern Colorado.
Thanks to the generosity of early supporters, approximately 70% of the funding needed to complete the project has already been secured. Still, community support remains essential to the Center’s success and will help complete this transformational project and establish a permanent home where future generations can learn, collaborate, and lead.
Ways to Help
- Make a Campaign Gift.
- Explore Naming Opportunities.
- Provide In-Kind Professional Services or Materials.
- Learn About Colorado Enterprise Zone Tax Credits. Eligible donations of $250 or more may qualify for the 25% state tax credit. Learn more at oedit.colorado.gov/enterprise-zone-program.
- Become a Campaign Ambassador.
- Contact kate.brocato@westernresilience.org to learn more about how you can help Build Western Resilience.
Donate Today
Donations made here will be attributed directly towards our Building Western Resilience campaign. If you would like to support Western Resilience’s programs, please click here.
With project support from
