Purpose of the Open Lands, Rivers and Trails Fund:

Keeping water in the Colorado River and other rivers for agriculture, ranching and outdoor recreation.

To the protection, conservation, and acquisition of agricultural lands, natural areas, scenic open lands, wildlife habitat, wetlands, and river access.

To the maintenance of hiking and biking trails.

All meetings are open to the public, please click here to view the Advisory Committee meeting schedule.

Eligible Grant Applicants:

Grand County, incorporated municipalities located within Grand County, and qualified nonprofit land conservation organizations as defined at 26 U.S.C §170(h)(3) or as accredited to hold conservation easements by the Land Trust Alliance Commission may submit grant applications requesting funding for the following: less than fee interests in real property, fee simple or water rights acquisition.

Grand County, incorporated municipalities located within Grand County, and nonprofit organizations may submit grant applications requesting funding for the maintenance of hiking and biking trails. Funding for trail maintenance purposes is capped at 15% of the funds available for grant awards.

Partnerships with municipalities or County can also apply.

How to Apply:

The Open Lands, Rivers and Trails Fund is administered by the Grand County Board of County Commissions through recommendations of a nine-member Advisory Committee composed of equal representation from the agricultural, land conservation, outdoor recreation, water, business, and economic development communities.

To apply, please first review the Open Lands Rivers and Trails Bylaws dated July 25th, 2017. These bylaws include General Evaluation Criteria (Attachment II), which all grant applicants should review closely. In addition to reviewing the bylaws, please read the two Resolutions dated August 18th, 2016 and January 26th, 2017. Trails groups, please review the Trails FAQ document, accessed by clicking here. When you are ready to apply, please click on the Grant Application below (note: make sure you are using the most current version of the application).

When to Apply?

FALL GRANT CYCLE:
August 1, 2018: Applications posted
September 12, 2018: Applications due
November 13, 2018: OLRTAC presents recommendations to Grand County BOCC

Fall (2018) Grant Cycle Available Funds:

The Open Lands, Rivers, and Trails Fund has approximately $500,000 of available funds for the fall 2018 grant cycle. 15% of these approximated available funds are available for trails projects; 80% of these approximated available funds are available for open lands and river projects.

Spring 2018 Awards

Trails Projects: $199,164.00 awarded

• Headwaters Trails Alliance, Trail Smart Sizing, $43,400
• Headwaters Trails Alliance, East Shore Trail, $51,300
• Town of Fraser, Fraser River Trail Maintenance, $43,500
• Headwaters Trails Alliance, Winter Trail Grooming, $16,400
• Headwaters Trails Alliance, Phases & Wolford, $21,950
• Grand Lake Trailgrooming, Equipment Repair, $10,000
• Grand Lake Metro. Rec. District, Hiking & Biking, $12,614

Open Lands and Rivers Projects: $1,063,450.00 awarded

• Grand County, Windy Gap, $1,000,000
• Colorado Headwaters Land Trust, Roy N. Enter, $57,200
• Town of Granby, Water Diversion Upgrades, $6,250

Questions?

Contact Anna Drexler-Dreis (Administrator): aldrexler@gmail.com or (414) 305-8422.
Please email completed application(s) and grant report(s) to the Open Lands, Rivers, and Trails Advisory Committee at olrtac@co.grand.co.us
Grant Report
Grant Application--PDF

Grant Application--Word