This month Colorado’s water and trout lost a grand champion, and Colorado Trout Unlimited lost a beloved colleague.  Bette “Jo” Evans died on June 3 after a prolonged illness.  She was 79.

Jo fought for Colorado’s streams and trout as a lobbyist for Colorado TU and other conservation organizations at the Colorado General Assembly. She lobbied for CTU through the 1980s, 90s and until 2002, at which point she retired and passed the baton to her daughter Jen Boulton, who had worked with her as an associate lobbyist for several years prior to Jo’s retirement. 

Advocacy is a necessary function of any conservation organization, and Jo was CTU’s greatest advocate.  She could have made several times what CTU and other conservation groups paid her, if she had wanted to advocate for other interests.  But those interests did not interest her, or stoke the fire that burned in her belly.  She wanted to be, and was, a force for water and trout, and for decades was one of the most passionate, articulate and effective lobbyists in Colorado.  She was in it for the cause, and she was in it for the long run.  She loved working for and with the people of Trout Unlimited.  We were utterly blessed to have Jo.

Jen said it best on the morning of June 3 when she posted this on Facebook: “So, at 2:51 this morning my parents were reunited when Bette Jo Evans left this world behind. We have lost an incredible warrior for clean air and water, and the Earth mourns its loss, while Heaven rejoices. Rest well Mom, the entire State of Colorado is eternally in debt for your efforts on its behalf. We will remember you in every gurgling stream, in the winds in the pines, and in all the wild places for which you spent a lifetime fighting.”

Former CTU Executive Director Dave Taylor shares his reflections on Jo:

I first met Jo when I began working for CTU in the mid-1980s.  Each year TU and a handful of conservation, environmental and wildlife organizations would cobble together some funding and employ Jo as our lobbyist at the Capital, with CTU being a principal funder.  Jo liked all the organizations, but had a soft spot for CTU.

Year after year, legislative session after session, Jo effectively worked both sides of the aisle to keep Colorado’s air and water clean, and our streams flowing.  Jo was indefatigable in her pursuit of quality legislation for water and fish, and equally determined to battle down bad bills that would negatively impact our state’s coldwater resource.

Jo had immense credibility with legislators, gobs of it.  Regardless of a legislator’s party affiliation or point of view, they all respected and admired Jo.  She lobbied from a brilliantly articulated point of logic and pragmatism, and she smacked of integrity and character.

She knew legislators from the obscure to the powerful, Senate and House leaders, and Governors and their staffs.  They all knew and admired Jo. They knew she would speak in a fact-based and logical manner, rationally but fiercely advocating for Colorado’s natural resources, especially water and trout.

Jo Evans fought the good fight on behalf of us all.  And for that I shed a tear and am forever thankful.  And I am forever blessed to have known Jo and called her my friend.  She was special.

CTU Executive Director David Nickum shares his reflections on Jo:

When I first moved to Colorado in the 1990s working for National Trout Unlimited, I quickly discovered some of the key conservation leaders who fought for Colorado’s trout and watersheds, and from whom I could learn. Jo was top of the list, and I was blessed to have the chance to work alongside her for several years and to see first-hand how effectively she represented TU and the cause of coldwater conservation. At a time when there were hardly any professional lobbyists working in Colorado on behalf of conservation, Jo could be an army of one when needed – but also a great collaborator and as kind and giving of a colleague as you could hope to meet.

Jo was a force of nature, and a force for nature. Over some two decades of dedicated work, if there was a significant piece of conservation legislation passed or a major threat defeated at the General Assembly, Jo was a central piece in making it happen.

A former school teacher, Jo brought a knack for explaining complex issues in simple yet accurate terms. Knowing that her clients could never match the deep pocketbooks of other competing interests, she ensured that she and they were respected and appreciated for what they could bring: a sincere dedication to Colorado’s natural resources, a deep knowledge and expertise of the issues, and the utmost credibility: if Jo said it was so, you could take it to the bank. She leveraged those qualities to earn the respect of legislators on both sides of the aisle, and to achieve landmark bipartisan legislative measures from securing conservation funding through the lottery under Great Outdoors Colorado - to empowering the state instream flow program to acquire water rights to improve historically degraded environments.

Today, Colorado’s conservation community has multiple lobbyists representing our state’s natural resources at the General Assembly, including Jo’s daughter Jen Boulton, whose own skill and commitment was a source of deep pride for Jo. As a conservation community we have worked with legislative leaders to secure key victories such as this year’s passage of legislation to protect Colorado waters and wetlands after last year’s rollback of the Clean Water Act by the Supreme Court. But we can never forget those giants on whose shoulders we stand – and Jo’s long-time commitment and effectiveness not only secured some of Colorado’s most important legislation, but she paved the way for all of those who have followed in her footsteps.