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Grand County approves insurance waivers and several OLRT MOUs for trail grooming groups
Summary
The county granted insurance waivers lowering MOU limits from $1.2M to $1.0M for Headwaters Trails Alliance and Grand Lake Trail Grooming after groups said underwriters are scarce; the board then approved related OLRT MOUs. Attorneys warned of county liability but noted many jurisdictions waive the requirement.
Grand County commissioners approved insurance waivers and memoranda of understanding for multiple Open Lands, Rivers & Trails (OLRT) grantees on Nov. 12 after hearing that specialized insurers are scarce for winter trail grooming activities.
Anna Drexler Drais, representing OLRT staff, said Headwaters Trails Alliance requested waivers on three fall‑2025 MOUs (winter trail grooming, Fraser field work, and a two‑year operations grant) and Grand Lake Trail Grooming requested a waiver for its one‑year operating support MOU. She explained the requested change would lower the required general liability limit from $1,200,000 to $1,000,000.
Cameron Stone of Grand Lake Trail Grooming told the board that very few insurers underwrite winter trail grooming operations; one carrier offered an umbrella to reach higher limits but the premium would add roughly $5,000–$6,000—an onerous cost for a $23,000 grant. "There currently is only one company in the U.S. that’s insuring snowmobile grooming operations," Stone said, adding the additional premium would make the grant financially infeasible.
The county attorney advised that waiving insurance increases county exposure and generally recommended against it, but noted municipalities commonly grant waivers when market availability is limited. Commissioners discussed the tradeoffs and directed staff to consider later standardization of OLRT MOU limits; several suggested evaluating whether a uniform $1,000,000 threshold would be appropriate across OLRT agreements.
On motions, the board approved a waiver for Grand Lake Trail Grooming and then approved Headwaters Trails Alliance’s three‑project waiver request, followed by approval of related MOUs (YMCA, wildfire council, Colorado Open Lands and others listed during the OLRT agenda). Staff said they will return with standardized language for future MOUs.
The board asked staff to place a future agenda item to review standard MOU insurance thresholds and potential mitigations to county liability.
