PLAN Jeffco Monthly April 2025
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Archive for year: 2025
Why Use Conservation Easements
By Don Moore, PLAN Jeffco Board Member
An important tool in the toolbox to preserve open lands and natural landscapes is the use of conservation easements. Conservation easements have been increasingly gaining favor in recent years as a means to preserve wildlife habitat and agriculture lands, and to protect scenic views, lands for recreation, and lands of significant ecological, historic, or cultural value. Conservation easements may aid in limiting or directing where urban development may take place. Placing land into a conservation easement may offer significant financial and non-financial benefits to landowners while allowing for the continued private ownership of the land, restricting development, and contributing to the environmental stewardship of the land.
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement that permanently limits the use of the land in order to protect its conservation values. Conservation easements offer benefits to both the landowners and the surrounding community. For the community, conservation easements help maintain local property values and preserve the character of the community. For the landowner, an easement may provide financial benefits through considerable tax incentives and reduced property taxes. For the holder of the easement, which may be a land trust, municipal, state or federal government agency, the easements protect properties with unique natural or historic values without the cost of purchasing the property in fee or the cost to maintain the property. While the cost of conservation easements to the holder of the easement varies, it is common that an easement will cost half or less than half of the cost of purchasing the property in fee.
Rules for conservation easements, according to the Internal Revenue Service, must serve at least one of the following purposes: preserving land for outdoor recreation or educating the public; protecting natural habitats for fish, wildlife and plants; conserving open spaces such as farmland or forests; safeguarding historic significant structures or land areas.
Landowners still retain certain rights to use their property for recreational purposes, farming or ranching, for example, unless these activities conflict with conservation objectives of the easement. Property owners usually have the right to continue living on the land, while using their land for agricultural or other compatible purposes. In some cases, a conservation easement may also include specific reserved rights for the landowner to build limited additional structures or make limited improvements, depending on what is agreed to by the landowner and easement holder. Conservation easements run with the land, meaning that not only the original owner but all owners of the land that come after them are subject to the provisions of the easement.
The financial benefits to a property owner may include federal and tax deductions, estate tax benefits, Colorado state tax credits, property tax benefits, and cash payments.
Easements created in Colorado in 2021 to 2026 may receive tax credit certificates issued for 90% of the donated value, up to a maximum of $5 million per donation. For conservation easements donated in 2027 to 2031, tax credit certificates are issued for 80% of the donated value up to a maximum of $5 million per donation.
The property tax rate for lands subject to a conservation easement are limited to the rate set for agricultural lands, eliminating the possibility of the land being taxed at a higher rate, such as for residential or industrial uses.
Non-financial benefits to a property owner may include the ability to maintain an agricultural operation for future generations, preservation of the land in its undeveloped, productive state, and preservation of water rights for agricultural purposes. Conservation easements may also eliminate future family disputes over what to do with the property when the original property owner passes. Conservation easements also provide opportunities for future farmers and ranchers to get a start by allowing them to purchase land at a more affordable price.
The cost to create a conservation easement may include the cost to create the following: a baseline inventory report documenting the current condition of the property; an appraisal to determine the value of the conservation easement; a mineral remoteness assessment to determine the likelihood of mineral extraction; title work; an environment assessment. These costs may be borne by either the property owner or the potential holder of the easement.
For people interested in creating a conservation easement, they should meet with the potential easement holder, whether that is a local land trust organization, or their local, state or federal agencies.
For more information on conservation easement tax credits, consult with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Affairs – Colorado Division of Conservation.
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SLASH 2025
The 2025 SLASH season is upon us. From May 16th to October 26th, four SLASH collection sites will be open for business , mostly on Thursdays thru Sundays, 9AM to 4PM, unless otherwise posted. You should plan to arrive no later than 30 minutes prior to closing.
In addition to the regular rotational site locations, the Tincup Ridge Slash Yard will be accepting drop-offs on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for the entire SLASH season. Before making plans, please check the JCOS website for rules and regulations regarding accepted/not accepted materials, and view a larger image of the full SLASH calendar. Click here to download a copy of the full 2025 SLASH calendar.
If you’re going to partake of these SLASH opportunities, you’ll want to sign up for the SLASH alert system, which disseminates real-time information that pertains to SLASH drop-off operations related to closures, potential weather cancellations, and changes to the program/locations. Go to the JCOS SLASH page and Sign Up For Alerts.
SLASH stands for Sustainable Lands and Safer Homes. Wildfire mitigation requires community-wide support to reduce risk for Jefferson County. To see what an impact SLASH collection has had, take a look at the 2024 SLASH Report.
Miss Mountain Manners wants to thanks Jeffco Open Space for once again hosting and supporting our County SLASH program.
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PLAN Jeffco Loses Co-Founder Bette Seeland
PLAN Jeffco co-founder Bette Seeland helped launch the campaign for Jefferson County Open Space and was a pillar of PLAN Jeffco for 52 years.
By Vicky Gits
Bette Seeland, one of three co-founders of PLAN Jeffco in 1971, along with John Litz and Margot Zallen, passed away March 2, after a long illness.
Seeland’s tenure as the Secretary of PLAN Jeffco started at its founding and lasted until 2024, for 52 years.
Born in 1938, Seeland grew up in Zumbrota, Minnesota and attended Carleton College. She earned a master’s degree with a major in biostatistics and a minor in public health microbiology from the University of Minnesota.
She is survived by her husband of 63 years, David, whom she met on a ski trip. They married in 1961 and honeymooned in the Utah ski town of Alta. They had two daughters, Lisa and Sarah.
“Bette was patience personified. She was so good with newcomers on the board. She took time to welcome us, to orient us, to make us feel like we belonged…She was like a board mom,” said Michelle Poolet, current President of PLAN Jeffco.
Seeland was a key figure in the origination of Jefferson County Open Space in her role as a researcher and co-author of several studies sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
These studies formed the foundation of the movement that was to be ratified by voters at large in Jefferson County with the passing of the Open Space Resolution. The voters also approved a visionary one-half cent sales tax to establish and maintain the Open Space parks.
In 1971, she and Carol Karlin, another League member, got interested in saving mountain lands for the benefit of the general public. They were worried that access to the lands was being restricted and property was overdeveloped in general.
In October 1971, after a couple of early studies titled “Parks and Recreation” and “Planning and Zoning,” they asked League members if they would spearhead a citizens’ committee for the purpose of obtaining open space parks in Jefferson County.
After an historic meeting in Carol Karlin’s Lakewood living room, the citizens’ committee became PLAN Jeffco.
Bette was a member of the League of Women Voters for over 60 years. She served as president from 1969 to 1970. She was first VP, second VP, voter service chair, longtime secretary and membership chair. She was the league’s information source on candidates and ballot issues. She served as first VP in charge of all study and programming committees.
For many years she was the sole editor of the Jeffco Citizens Guide and documented every entry for accuracy with relentless diligence. Recently she served as member of the Immigration and Housing Team.
As the Secretary of PLAN Jeffco, she was known for her clock-like reliability, writing skills and thoughtful commentary. She spoke with a soft and articulate voice. She was polite but also influential.
“She was petite, unassuming and quiet, but oh so efficient and effective. When asked, she typically had a well-reasoned opinion, though she was seldom self-assertive in expressing it. She will be greatly missed,” said Jean Tate, Treasurer of PLAN Jeffco.
During the COVID years she adapted to appearing on the computer screen in our virtual Board meetings, but we never really saw her in person again.
About this time she produced a series of humorous educational columns under the pseudonym, “Miss Mountain Manners.”
Because of her fragile health she spent more time at home. But this setback did not diminish her participation in volunteer activities.
Bette loved travel and the outdoors. She and David frequently enjoyed camping, hiking and cross-country road trips in their VW buses and Porsches. The couple participated in 42 PCA Porsche Parades, with a group of vintage Porsche fans.
She traveled to Europe — France, England and Scotland, and South America with daughter Lisa in 2018. She survived a life-threatening six-week stay in the ICU in Dublin in 2014 after a mostly enjoyable Ireland trip.
She played the classical piano and was a longtime symphony season ticket holder. For fun she also painted mountain scenes in Idaho and Wyoming .
No service is planned. The family suggests that donations be made to the Jeffco Action Center, Jefferson County League of Women Voters, or PLAN Jeffco.
See the obituary at www.horancares.com.
The brass plaque which lists the founders of PLAN Jeffco, located at the Carol Karlin Overlook, Founders Trail, Elk Meadow Open Space Park.
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Comment on Open Space agrees to forgo trail improvement near Rocky Flats in deal with Westminster by David Wood
After all their anti-nuclear (not pro-health) posturing, this is the best Westminster could do to get out of the deal?
They were bamboozled by the usual scare tactics of Rocky Flats Downwinders and the Boulder’s Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center. To call these folks “environmental advocates” is an insult to any environmental group. They aim to close down the Refuge and place it off-limits to humans because of radiation doses (at peak plutonium locations on the Refuge’s eastern edge) about 1000 times smaller than background radiation. This side wins most local political battles (but not those in municipalities with expertise such as Arvada and Boulder), but not federal ones. The Greenway results MATTER in the same way that local support for vaccination (or for anti-vax conspiracies) matters—it assesses whether a population actually trusts science, even if it does not understand it.
Amber Hott, one of the Westminster City Councillors who voted to leave the Greenway project, has been a member of the anti-Refuge and anti-nuclear Rocky Flats Downwinders facebook group since March 2023. Surprisingly, she did not recuse herself from the vote. Nor did Claire Carmelia, a member of the anti-nuclear Physicians for Social Responsibility and a candidate for Westminster mayor. The Westminster vote was 4-2.
Open Space agrees to forgo trail improvement near Rocky Flats in deal with Westminster
Westminster social trail heading west across Indiana Street into Rocky Flats.
By Vicky Gits
Jeffco Open Space Advisory Board unanimously approved an agreement resolving a contract dispute between Open Space and the City of Westminster over completing a 0.4-mile-long trail connection between the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and Westminster Hills Open Space. The advisory board endorsed the deal in an 8-0 vote in a regular meeting on March 6.
Westminster agrees not to block the trail going to Rocky Flats and not prevent visitor access. However, it will not participate in improving the trail or building the bridge. Open Space filed to take sole ownership under a reverter clause but ultimately deeded the land to Westminster with conditions.
The resolution, which was approved by the Jeffco Board of County Commissioners, releases the city from its promise to help Jeffco and Boulder County build a segment of the Greenway Trail via a bridge over Indiana Street.
The area in question is east of Indiana Street and west of the Westminster Hills Open Space and a large and popular off-leash dog park. Several existing social trails on the Westminster property form a link to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge trail and these will be allowed to stand.
The cost to purchase the 348-acre open space in 2019 was equally shared by Westminster and Jeffco Open Space and included a standard “reverter,” in favor of Jeffco Open Space. The reverter provided the land would be deeded back to Jefferson County if it were not used for public open space, park or recreational purposes.
In 2021, the parties, including Boulder, signed an intergovernmental agreement for funding four trail crossings, the Rocky Mountain Greenway Trail Crossings IGA.
But in September 2024, the Westminster Council backed out of the Crossings IGA. The narrow 4-3 vote meant Westminster would not contribute any money to the project and the 0.4 miles of connecting trail will not be built.
According to the Colorado Community Media’s Westminster Window, the council majority no longer wanted the city to participate because of concerns the foot traffic into Westminster would stir up plutonium particles linked to the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant that formerly occupied the site.
They argued for huge signs being posted to warn of possible radioactive contamination from hiking and biking.
The ongoing existence of radioactive particles has been a contested issue for decades since the plant was closed and demolished in 1989.
Environmental advocates lobbied council for months to get out of the deal.
When Westminster did so, Jefferson County considered the reverter had been triggered and that the property was owned by Jefferson County which submitted a deed at the clerk and recorder’s office.
Westminster disagreed, saying it was still the owner, and the reverter had not been triggered. Potential lawsuits were contemplated.
To resolve the matter, Jeffco agreed to execute a new deed conveying the property to Westminster with the same reverter clause as 2019. Westminster agreed it would not block access to the Indiana Street Bridge, allowing bicycles and hikers to walk on the existing path. Westminster also agreed to continue to pay its remaining $200,000 obligation under the Crossings IGA.
Jeffco agrees not to build a new trail over the existing social trail leading to Indiana Street and beyond to the wildlife refuge.
According to Jeffco Open Space authorities, the Indiana Street Overpass is scheduled to begin construction sometime during the spring of 2025.
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PLAN Jeffco Monthly February 2025
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Jeffco Open Space Conservation Awards 2025
2025 Conservation Awards Ceremony – Tom Hoby, Opening Ceremony, January 30, 2025. Article by Vicky Gits, photo courtesy of Michelle Poolet
Volunteers are the heartbeat of the Jefferson County Open Space system. In 2024, 6,038 individuals logged 57,000 working hours. They completed 549 projects, preserved 291 acres and created 17 miles of new trails.
All this effort represented the equivalent of 31 full-time workers, said Tom Hoby, executive director, at the 2025 Conservation Awards ceremony Jan. 30 at the Lakewood Cultural Center.
In his introductory remarks, Hoby highlighted efforts in forest health/fire mitigation by treating almost 900 acres with the help of various partners in four years. This represents 90 percent of the five-year goal.
He also commended the firefighters and Jeffco Sheriff’s Office for their response to the Quarry fire that burned some 800 acres including parts of Deer Creek Canyon Park last August. Deer Creek Park, Rattlesnake Gulch and Black Bear trails continue to be closed as a result of the fires.
Tunnel One to Huntsman Gulch. Hoby acknowledged substantial progress last year on the three-mile-long, $80 million Huntsman segment of the Clear Creek part of the Peak to Plains Trail from Tunnel One to Huntsman Gulch, west of Golden. This is the most expensive and most difficult section of the 19-mile canyon leg of the 65-mile trail. So far, two trailheads and a 1,500-foot viaduct, similar to the structure in Glenwood Canyon, have been built. Three of seven bridges have been placed. To help fund the build, Open Space secured $40 million from partners at CDOT, GOCO, DRCOG and local governments. The first half of the new segment is expected to open in late summer 2025.
The winners of the conservation awards were as follows:
ASPEN AWARD – For outstanding service by a volunteer in their first three years.
Amy Eisentrager: Amy turned in an incredible 600 hours, mostly on the trails restoration team. The job turned out to be essential to her healing process after a debilitating illness in 2022. She also participates in the Boettcher gardening, data and observatory teams. She has a passion for learning and teaching others about the importance of trail maintenance and restoration, in addition to wielding a pickax and a shovel.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN JUNIPER AWARD – For outstanding service with a stewardship project or education initiative. Allan Reid. He devotes 80 percent of his time to trails, and the rest to park patrolling and teaching a geology class. Reid spent 100 days last year on various trail projects. Joining open space in 2014 was just another volunteer job but it turned into a passion. “Every day is fantastic,” Reid said in the video interview. “When I finish the day, I feel I have done something positive,” he said.
DOUGLAS FIR AWARD – Recognizing an organization that is an outstanding partner in a conservation effort. Team Rubicon and Arvada Fire Protection District for the Van Bibber fire mitigation project. This was a massive cleanup of a potential fire danger in the middle of the city of Arvada, removing 77,000 cubic feet of waste and creating a defensible space in a two-day period.
BLUE SPRUCE AWARD – For creating programs that connect people to healthy, nature-based experiences. Josh Pollock, for Narrow Gauge Slabs Climbing Crag Development Coordination. Josh was instrumental in bringing numerous diverse groups from different backgrounds together to create a beginner-friendly climbing area in Pine Valley Ranch Park.
GAMBEL OAK AWARD – For pioneers in preserving open space and park lands. Denver Water for Strontia Springs Reservoir Watershed Sediment Mitigation Management partnership. Using low-tech and natural materials such as willow branches and stakes, participants created stream fences that keep sediment and contaminants from flowing into the water treatment plant.
John Litz Award plaque, introduced at the 2025 Conservation Awards Ceremony. Photo courtesy of Vicky Gits.
JOHN LITZ AWARD – Recognizes an individual for significant long-term contributions to open space and conservation. Marsha Trout, 14-year volunteer, Marsha is a climber and mountain biker who turned her passion into action and loves getting her hands into the dirt. She is noted for her positive attitude and for bringing baked goods and homemade Oreos to work projects. She has had many volunteer jobs, but her favorite is trail work. “Every trail is a legacy,” she said. She is also an educational specialist. Her enthusiasm inspires other volunteers.
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PLAN Jeffco Monthly January 2025
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