Ongoing Projects
It is great fun and truly rewarding working on various projects as part of Friends of Twin Lakes. You meet wonderful interesting people. Plus the projects are quite interesting. Friends of Twin Lakes partners with the US Forest Service and local governments to improve the quality of life for visitors and residents of southern Lake County.
The Red Rooster which the Friends of Twin Lakes with the support of the Forest Service have worked to renovate and preserve is staffed by volunteers of Friends of Twin Lakes as a Visitor’s center. During the summer the center welcomes over 8500 visitors each year. The volunteers put in over 1000 hours to staff the center.
Our 1895 School House Rehabilitation
We entered into a 10 year lease of the Twin Lakes School House commencing in July of 2014 and renewed in 2019 We engaged in a lot of clean up and rehabilitation work on the building, hosting multiple fire mitigation and clean up days along with construction and painting work days. We received a grant from the Freeport McMoRan Climax-Area (CO) Community Investment Fund (CIF) for $20,000. The funds were used to make the Schoolhouse both a more beautiful and safe location for FOTL sponsored activities and encouraging greater tourist traffic in the village to see this historic gem. We are so grateful to the Freeport McMoRan Foundation for their faith in us!
Assayor’s Office Restoration in Heritage Park
In the summer of 2020 The Friends of Twin Lakes undertook the restoration of the Assayor’s Office in Twin Lakes heritage park. Lumber was donated by Home Depot in Vail.
Trail work
Working in conjunction with the Forest Service FoTL maintains and cleans up the trails within our area as well as building a new trail from the Visitor’s Center to the boat ramp.
Southern Lake County Fire Station II
The Friends of Twin Lakes spearheaded the push for Station II raising more than $896,984.12 for its building. Also members of FoTL volunteered endless hours working on grants, designing the station and working on obtaining bids. The Leadville/Lake County Fire-Rescue held the opening ceremony for the new Fire Station II on Saturday October 24, 2023. Station II, which sits along County Road 10 about halfway between Leadville and Twin Lake. It is designed to help emergency response personnel reach incidents in the south faster than before. See more information at https://friendsoftwinlakes.com/fire-station-ii/
WELCOME TO TWIN LAKES SIGNS
The Friends of Twin Lakes erected Welcome to Twin Lakes signs at both ends of the Village.
EMERGENCY SIGNAGE
We are working with the Fire Department to help homeowners post better house number signage which is critical to locate your home in the event of an emergency. Please contact the Leadville/Lake County Fire Department to sign up for a sign (minimal cost of $10 for a Lake County Building Code compliant sign).
BRINGING BROADBAND TO TWIN LAKES/SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY
On May 23, 2016, we hosted a Community Meeting where Colorado Central Telecom discussed the possibility of bringing unlimited broadband data to the area. For more information about this, please visit http://coloradocentraltelecom.com/ or call 719-937-7700 ext. 103 . (Please know that Friends of Twin Lakes does not specifically endorse any broadband providers, however, we have found that there is an interest in knowing further options and we are providing information to be shared.)
NATIONAL HISTORIC REGISTRY “RENOMINATION” PROJECT FOR HISTORIC DISTRICT IN TWIN LAKES
With the great expertise and the generous donation of many hours of research, surveying and work, Kurt Schweigert is completing a comprehensive submission National Historic Registry for the Twin Lakes Historic District to replace the hasty nomination with little substance done in the 1970s. This involves forty-six properties on both sides of Highway 82 in the Village. This is a work in progress and History Colorado requested that Kurt submit the project covering the years 1865-1966 (the addition of 36 more years to his initial work likely will result in more properties being seen as “historic” than shown on the map in the presentation). Attached is the powerpoint presentation Kurt gave on January 30th, along with a draft site form for one property.
NEW AGREEMENT in partnership with the Pike-San Isabel National Forest, Leadville Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture*
This is an important step in allowing FOTL to meaningfully participate and initiate rehabilitation and maintenance at the Heritage Park and Interlaken. Please contact friendsoftwinlakes@gmail.com to volunteer or financially support this work.
The following are some of the key projects covered by the Agreement to be done by FOTL with Forest Service involvement:
- Prepare draft registration for update of 1974 listing of the Twin Lakes Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. This update will include prior sites documented and new properties now eligible in the Village of Twin Lakes.
- FOTL will continue to staff the Red Rooster Visitor Center throughout the summer and maintain the building.
- Conduct hazard materials investigation of Clarion Hotel Building. This will serve as a springboard for a plan to stabilize and rehabilitate the building as either an additional interior interpretive display area or one that is viewed through plexiglass from outside.
- FOTL will maintain the grounds of the Heritage Center. Including replacing and repairing additional structures in the area.
- Develop a Master Development Site Plan for expanded historical and geological interpretation including adding artifacts/machinery and signage regarding the mining history.
- Identify efforts immediately necessary for interim stabilization, maintenance or security of Interlake Resort buildings.
- Develop a stabilization and management plan for the resort complex.
If you are interested in volunteering to assist on these projects, please email friendsoftwinlakes@gmail.com. If you would like to donate funds to assist in the completion of these projects, please put Heritage Park/Interlaken in the memo line of a check made out to Friends of Twin Lakes and mail it to Friends of Twin Lakes, 231 Lang St., Twin Lakes, CO 81251 (FOTL will provide you with a donation receipt to be used for tax purposes). Click on the link to see the agreement. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JQk5YqZV0UFfi1xpg-BTrxgkLZd8S3O1/view?usp=sharing