benefits
County sales tax revenues are used exclusively to accomplish projects that are consistent with the program mission. For several years the Trust Fund was dedicated almost entirely to mounting a (legal and scientific) strategy to defeat the proposed South Park Conjunctive Use Project (SPCUP). If the project had gone forward, it would have removed ground water from South Park's aquifers and transported it via the South Platte River to a growing Front Range city. In the process many wells, springs, and wetlands in Park County would almost certainly have dried up on a permanent basis. Following the successful defeat of SPCUP, the Trust Fund is now used primarily to purchase conservation easements on ranches containing priority water rights and resources, restore many miles of degraded stream channel, and acquire public fishing leases on private creeks and rivers. The Trust Fund also serves as a deterrent to future conjunctive use projects that may attempt deplete or otherwise impair Park County's remaining water resources and associated habitat.