New conservation easement on ag property in the city of Boulder and more on the CU South ongoing annexation activity.

In February, the County Public Works department made an ill-conceived and disastrously prepared application for a special use permit for an industrial-scale composting facility on county open space at the site of the former Rainbow Tree Nursery Site, east of US 287 and north of Lookout Road.

Many of the issues that have been important in 2020 continue to require attention in 2021.

At the state level, depending on the election results, we may be looking towards active reintroduction of the gray wolf, which is currently almost extirpated in Colorado. In the next few months we may also see resolution of some issues regarding management of Greater Prairie Chickens on State Land Board properties in southeast Colorado, which are being pursued by the Audubon Colorado Council.

Over the last few decades, the Boulder County Commissioners have been particularly astute in creating oil and gas regulations that provide maximum health and environmental protections without overreaching and provoking court rulings that would limit their flexibility and authority.

In the time of the novel coronavirus, decision-making bodies on local environmental issues are all on hold while local and state governments concentrate on those parts of the crisis for which they have to assume responsibility.

Black-tailed prairie dogs once occupied a territory hundreds of miles wide, stretching from Mexico to Canada. We have now converted nearly all of that grassland to cropland for wheat, corn, other crops; pastures of European grasses; or paved it over for homes and shopping centers. We also introduced sylvatic plague (bubonic plague in humans), a disease that did not exist in North America and for which prairie dogs are not evolved to deal with.