The Summit County Open Space and Trails Department administers Summit County Government’s open space protection program. This program is funded through property tax mill levies approved by County voters in 1993, 1999, and 2003.

The Summit County Open Space Advisory Council provides oversight to the program and makes recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners on open space purchases and management plans. To date the program has protected over 11,000 acres of open space through fee title acquisitions, conservation easement donations, access easements, and partnerships with other agencies.

Protecting open space is a cooperative effort with landowners who are willing sellers. With all open space acquisitions, Summit County works with landowners to determine fair market value for the property. This guarantees public funds are being used efficiently while fairly compensating landowners for their property.

One of the open space program’s goals is to leverage limited open space fund dollars in order to protect the greatest amount of open space possible. To date every dollar spent by Summit County on open space purchases has been leveraged by nearly $5.50 from other sources. These sources include joint acquisitions and partnerships with towns, grants from Great Outdoors Colorado, land exchanges with the federal government, and donations from private landowners.

Besides outright acquisition, another popular method of protecting open space in Summit County is through a conservation easement. A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement between a landowner and a qualified conservation organization or government agency (such as Summit County Government) that permanently limits a property’s uses in order to protect its conservation values. Conservation easements are individually tailored for each property allowing the open space values to be protected, while keeping the land in private ownership. Typically conservation easements on private property do not allow for any public access.

Properties acquired by Summit County as open space are managed to protect their natural resource values while allowing for sustainable access and use. Summit County is developing management plans that outline allowed uses and management direction for its open space properties.

Please contact Brian Lorch at (970) 668-4067 or brianl@co.summit.co.us for more information about open space.