Conservation Corner

Spring Migrations are on the way, lights out

Even though Colorado is not on one of the major North American migration corridors, we still have significant flocks of migrating birds passing overhead during mid-April and May nights. Urban lights disturb migrating birds and disrupt their flight north. Do what you can to dim your own lights at night and especially to encourage proprietors of large buildings to do so. For up-to-date information on migration timing, check out BirdCast.

Image from BirdCast.info.

Redtail Ridge vote now for Louisville voters

Future development at the old Storage Technology facility to the east of the Denver-Boulder Turnpike (US-36) is being determined by Louisville voters now. The area has important habitat, with several prairie dog colonies, which include the possibility of all their dependent species, like Burrowing Owls. Louisville voters do not now have the option of preventing the site from being developed, though some advocates of a “no” vote think that the city council could still negotiate toward that outcome. If Louisville voters choose to vote “yes,” then the owner, Brue Baker Capital, will develop it according to the plan negotiated with the city council. This plan provides for 93 acres of open space with a park and 6.2 miles of trails, specifies that all the buildings developed on the site will be LEED-compliant, and includes a few other environmental guarantees. In the case of a “no” vote, Brue Baker Capital would probably still be able to develop the site using the plan that existed when they purchased the property, known as the CP 2010 plan.

For those concerned about the impact of building more office space along a corridor, and thus adding to traffic and to the existing problems of in-commuters from the expanding metro area, neither vote is likely to stop such development, though proponents of a “no” vote are hopeful.

Proposed plan for Redtail Ridge. Image from RedtailRidgeLouisville.com.

City of Boulder voters will decide on CU-South in November

CU-South is shorthand for the 308-acre, unprotected open space to the southwest of the junction of US-36 and Table Mesa Drive. The City of Boulder’s Open Space Department tried to purchase this property from the Flatirons Gravel Company to preserve as open space, but it was outbid by the University of Colorado (CU), which purchased the property in 1997. At the time of purchase, there was an agreed reclamation plan, which should have bound CU. The plan required dismantling the berm around the old gravel pit and the creation of a series of ponds to provide drainage and a field of absorption for floods, thus mitigating the flood danger for those downstream and overflow hazard for US-36. Instead of following this reclamation plan, CU reinforced the berm and manipulated regulatory agencies to get the FEMA flood maps changed. As a result, the 2013 flood left the old gravel pit high and dry, while the floodwaters topped US-36 and flooded the Frasier Meadows and adjacent neighborhoods. It is important to note that the permits for those housing developments were also deeply flawed in handling drainage.

Despite the fact that the original reclamation plan was subverted, the CU-South property has continued to be of significant importance ecologically. The groundwater flow from the area supplies the adjoining grasslands and wetlands that are designated as a Colorado State Natural Area and as a protected reserve for the city department of Open Space and Mountain Parks. The area includes habitat for two USFWS federally designated species: Preble’s meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei, Family Dipodidae) and Ute Ladies’ tresses orchid (Spiranthes diluvialis Sheviak), as well as a number of Colorado species of concern.

In the midst of city planning for flood mitigation at this location, CU inserted itself to dictate its own conditions on any flood mitigation on its property. Then it proceeded to announce plans to develop a “South Campus” on the property, including both academic buildings and residential structures, with no commitments that these would be affordable housing options. CU demanded that the city annex CU-South and provide utilities to supply its planned development.

In September 2021, Boulder City Council agreed to annex CU-South with provisions that many in the community find seriously problematic. Opponents of the agreement collected enough signatures to force a referendum to allow citizens to vote to reverse the council’s decision and rescind the annexation. The vote will take place in the November election, appearing on the ballot for City of Boulder voters.