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OLRT awards $190K for open lands, trails

Members of the Open Lands, River and Trail advisory committee hike along Jim Creek Trail in September. With funding from OLRT, the Headwaters Trail Alliance coordinated the tree removal and trail tread recovery in the area.
Amy Golden/Sky-Hi News

The Open Lands, Rivers and Trails fund made significant investments in five projects for the fall grant cycle.

The OLRT fund comes from a countywide 0.3% sales tax dedicated to open lands, rivers and trails. To date, including these newest grants, the fund has awarded $3.3 million to open lands and rivers along with $991,639 to trails.

On the open lands side, two conservation easements were awarded grants this fall. As of July 31, there was $2,170,753 available for open lands and rivers.



The fall cycle granted $63,700 to Colorado Open Lands for the Running Wilder Ranch conservation easement, equal to two-thirds of the project. There was also a $54,500 grant to Colorado Headwaters Land Trust for the Elk’s Vista conservation easement, equal to 69% of the project.

As for trails, which had $170,000 available in funds as of July 31, a total of $72,970 was granted to the Headwaters Trails Alliance for three different projects. That includes 10% of the cost for the group’s winter trail grooming, 17.5% of the cost for the Wilderness Trail maintenance project, and 66% of the cost of the maintenance on part of the Fraser to Granby Trail.



Applications will be posted for OLRT’s spring cycle on Feb. 7 with applications due March 11.


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