Sturm College of Law News
Clear Creek Land Conservancy (CCLC) Assists with Conservation Easement
January 04, 2010
On December 30, Clear Creek County purchased the “Oxbow” property from a developer-owner for $1,070,000 and donated a conservation easement to the CCLC to preserve it. Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) provided a grant of $725,000 toward the purchase, with the County paying the rest. The Oxbow includes 3/5-mile of river (fishing, rafting, kayaking), the old railroad bed (great future trail), lovely wooded areas, canyon wildlife and towering cliffs (rock climbing).
“This the first of what we hope be many conservation easements we can do in partnership with Clear Creek County,” said Prof. Rock Pring, CCLC’s vice president for land conservation, “To realize its visionary ‘Clear Creek Greenway’ from the Jeffco Open Space Greenway all the way across the county to the Eisenhower Tunnel!”
For those who are interested in the location of the new easement, you can view large parts of it from your car driving west (upstream) on U.S. 6. Just past the stop light at the confluence of the North and South Forks, as you cross into Clear Creek County, you come to Tunnel 5. Just before you go into Tunnel 5, you can look left/upstream into the property (watch out for the big gravel trucks!). As you exit Tunnel 5 immediately look left/downstream for a view of the other end of the Oxbow Property. If you are coming the other way, off I-70 and driving east/downstream on U.S. 6, just look right at each end of Tunnel 5.