Join Boulder County Audubon and Lynn Riedel on Tuesday, March 23rd to learn how a small but important state program is conserving biological and geological diversity across Colorado. Since 1977, the Colorado Natural Areas Program (CNAP) has recognized and protected natural areas in Colorado with unique or high-quality features of statewide significance. From prairie floodplain meadows to high elevation habitats, more than 250 rare, threatened, or endangered species and communities are monitored and cooperatively protected at 95 designated sites across the state. Unique geological and paleontological sites are also highlighted. CNAP-designated areas overlap with State Land Board Stewardship Land Trust sites, State Park lands, Nature Conservancy preserves, National Park Service lands, US Forest Service lands, city and county properties, private land, and include some National Audubon Society Important Bird Areas. Lynn will first provide a sampler of CNAP’s contributions to conservation across the state and then focus on the four biologically diverse state natural areas in Boulder County: Colorado Tallgrass Prairie, Boulder Mountain Park, South Boulder Creek, and White Rocks.

Lynn Riedel has spent her career in natural areas management in Colorado – initially working with the National Park Service. Her academic background is in biology and science education. Since the mid-1990s, she has worked as a plant ecologist with the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Department, specializing in grassland ecology. In Dinosaur National Monument and in Boulder, her work has included rare plant monitoring and habitat management, native plant community monitoring and mapping, and comprehensive natural area management planning. Currently, she serves on the Colorado Natural Areas Council which helps guide the work of the Colorado Natural Areas Program.