Fisher Peak cliff base. Photo courtesy of Pam Smith.
Join Boulder County Audubon Society and Pam Smith on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, to learn about Fishers Peak State Park (FPSP) - Colorado’s newest and 2nd largest state park with 19,200 acres. It is located 5.5 miles southeast of the town of Trinidad and officially became part of the State Park System in October of 2020. Fishers Peak rises along the park’s eastern boundary and, at 9,633 feet (2,936 m), it is the highest point east of its longitude in the United States and an iconic landmark for the region. The FPSP includes many rugged undeveloped areas with steep cliffs, numerous streams, ponds, meadows, woodlands, and both mature and mixed-aged forests. This property was formerly known as the Crazy French Ranch and has been private for over 100 years.
A biological survey took place over the course of two summers in 2019 and 2020. Biologists from the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) at Colorado State University (CSU), Denver Botanic Gardens, the University of Colorado, The Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Forest Service explored targeted areas of the park to document plants, animals, and plant communities. Animal surveys were conducted for insects (including butterflies and moths), aquatic invertebrates, birds, and mammals, including bats. The talk will cover the results of these biological surveys and will illustrate a story of recovery for a significant landscape that has been relatively protected from major human disturbance and development for over a century.
Field botanist and ecologist Pam Smith.
Pam Smith is a field botanist and ecologist and has been with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program at Colorado State University for over a decade. She has a BS and MS in botany and more than 30 years of conducting botanical and ecological field research. As a project investigator for CNHP, Pam conducts botanical surveys and monitoring for rare plants, plant communities, wetlands, and wetland condition assessments. She has presented workshops and presentations on a wide variety of topics including rare plants, wetland plant identification, wildland noxious weed management, grass identification, and forensic botany. Pam’s volunteer efforts include 10 years as a CSU Extension Native Plant Master instructor, guest instructor for the City of Fort Collins Master Naturalist Program, past President of the Colorado Native Plant Society Northern Chapter, and 10 years as a forensic botanist with NecroSearch International, a volunteer organization that assists law enforcement.
When: Tuesday, September 28, 2021. The presentation starts at 7:15 PM. Everyone is encouraged to join early to work through any connection issues (the meeting room will be open at ~7:00 PM).
Where: This meeting will be held online. All participants will be muted upon entry to the meeting room. The chat feature will be on so you can write questions for the speaker.
Zoom link - click or copy and paste: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81830018237?pwd=VElVa3FINk5oVXdTZmdaKzJWRWowdz09
If you wish to join audio by telephone, you can also call either number below or find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kb5c2jtca. We highly recommend you also join the meeting by video (but don't connect audio) due to the visual nature of this presentation.