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970-668-4060
fax 970-668-4225
Post Office Box 5660
0037 Peak One Drive, SCR 1005
Frisco, Colorado 80443
For Immediate Release: September 10, 2007
For More Information Contact:
Todd Robertson, Summit County Open Space and Trails (970) 668-4061
Summit County, Colorado - Summit County Government completed three key open space acquisitions this week, including the Fishhook property and strategic backcountry inholdings in the Lower Blue and Snake River basins.
The Fishhook property is located in the Snake River Basin, immediately north of the Highway 6/ Swan Mountain Road intersection. When combined with adjacent county-owned lands, this purchase will provide a half-mile of public access on both banks of the Snake River.
“The Fishhook property, along with the County’s Tenderfoot Meadows Open Space and other county lands along the Snake River, will preserve the Highway 6 view corridor as well as maintain an undeveloped community separator between Dillon and Keystone,” said Todd Robertson, Summit County Open Space and Trails Director.
In the Lower Blue Basin, the county acquired the final undivided one-third interest in an 80-acre inholding surrounded by National Forest lands in the Williams Fork Range, northeast of Green Mountain Reservoir. The County had previously acquired an undivided two-thirds interest in this property. Gaining full ownership of the property will prevent any future development in the area and avoid substantial wildlife habitat fragmentation that would have resulted in a 2.5-mile driveway off Highway 9 needed to access a building site.
The third purchase furthers the County Open Space program’s goals to maintain the backcountry character in the Snake River’s Peru Creek drainage. This 17-acre inholding on the southeast side of Cooper Mountain is the latest in over 350 acres of open space purchases in this drainage.
“The County Commissioners are elated with the acquisition and protection of Fishhook,” said County Commissioner Thomas Davidson. “Folks up here can look at this as one more outstanding example of why a well-funded Open Space program is essential for Summit County.”
The Open Space and Trails Department will be hosting a clean up on the Fishhook Property as part of Make a Difference Day on Saturday October 13. A management plan for the property will be developed over the winter, with the goal of opening the property to the public next summer.
To date Summit County’s Open Space program has protected over 13,200 acres of open space through outright purchases, acceptance of conservation easement donations, and partnerships with other local governments. These acquisitions were funded through an open space property tax mill levy approved by county voters in 1999 that sunset in 2009.
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