Dedication set for West Avon Preserve
AVON — A grand opening celebration for the West Avon Preserve, an open space property recently acquired by the town of Avon, will take place June 5 at 4 p.m.
All community members are invited to attend the celebration, which will be held at the Trailhead at Beaver Creek Point.
The 478-acre property, which lies between the communities of Avon and Singletree, is now permanently protected as open space. The site offers public access for hiking and biking along the Avon to Singletree Trail, June Creek Trail and Beaver Creek Point Trail.
There will be additional improvements when a new Saddle Ridge Trail will be built by volunteers this summer.
The West Avon Preserve is owned and managed by the town of Avon and the permanent conservation easement is held by the Eagle Valley Land Trust.
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“The residents and guests of Avon, now and in the future, will benefit from this open space,” said Avon’s Mayor Rich Carroll.
“This is land that will be preserved in perpetuity, land that is easily accessed for our use and enjoyment, and land that provides a significant natural resource buffer between our communities,” he added.
The recently completed conservation easement was made possible through the historic Eagle Valley Land Exchange, a regional land swap project involving numerous agencies and individuals.
The Land Exchange included six parcels and over 1,550 acres of local land.
Along with the West Avon Preserve, the Land Exchange added 800 acres of new land into the White River National Forest in Eagle County and added over 700 acres of additional conservation easements for our community.
The project partners for the Eagle Valley Land Exchange are the United States Forest Service, Colorado State Land Board, Eagle County, the town of Avon, Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority, Eagle River Water and Sanitation District, the Nottingham Family and the Eagle Valley Land Trust.
Funding for the West Avon Preserve property came from the town of Avon and from Eagle County’s dedicated Open Space Fund.
Numerous local residents, along with metro districts and homeowners associations in Singletree and Arrowhead, also contributed funds to the project.
For more information about the town of Avon’s new open space, contact assistant town manager Patty McKenny at 970-784-4035 or visit http://www.avon.org.
For information on the County’s Open Space program, contact Eagle County open space director Toby Sprunk at 970-328-8698 or visit http://www.eaglecounty.us/openspace.
For more information about the Eagle Valley Land Trust, visit http://www.evlt.org or call 970-748-7654.