Conservation Corner
Nation-wide Audubon has had many critical issues to deal with this spring and summer, from ongoing recovery efforts on some of the policies initiated by the Trump administration to important initiatives that try to reverse the disastrous declines in populations of seabirds. Regionally, the effects of climate change have exacerbated the problems of the Colorado River and transmountain diversions. Locally, the most important issues that have arisen are those connected with the property known as CU-South and with management of the Boulder Reservoir and the adjacent wetlands.
CU-South
CU-South is the property extending north and west from the intersection of South Boulder Road and the Boulder-Denver Turnpike (U.S.36). It has an area of a little over 300 acres, includes some important habitat, and supplies the groundwater that supports the critical grasslands and wetlands of the adjoining Colorado State Natural Area and the habitat conservation area of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.
The CU-South area is currently available for walking and birding.
CU-South was the site of a Flatiron Company gravel mining operation until the 1990s. At the close of the gravel mining, the city Open Space Department put in a bid to buy the property, but it was outbid by the University of Colorado, which purchased the property in 1996. CU then failed to follow the reclamation plan that was attached to the property, instead, illegally reinforcing the berm around the old gravel pit. As a result, during the 2013 floods, the old gravel pit stayed high and dry, while the floodwaters overtopped U.S. 36 and flooded the neighborhoods in the area designated as the West Valley (Frasier Meadows and the adjoining subdivisions). Those neighbors subsequently pressed the city for flood mitigation, and a series of preliminary engineering designs were produced to mitigate flooding from South Boulder Creek, even though damage from other drainages further north was larger than that in the South Boulder Creek floodplain.
CU has a long-standing request for the City of Boulder to annex the property and provide city utilities so that CU could develop the property, but the city has had no interest in doing so. However, the new conceptual designs for South Boulder Creek Flood Mitigation Plan involved storing floodwaters on the CU-South property, and CU made proceeding with any of these flood mitigation projects contingent on the city annexing CU-South and meeting a series of conditions—regulatory and financial—that are the subject of major disputes in Boulder at this time.
The underlying legal background for these disputes is that CU is a sovereign state entity, and once annexation takes place, CU is not subject to any of the city’s regulatory authority. Any limitations Boulder wishes to enforce have to be spelled out in the annexation agreement, or they will not be enforceable, so the exact wording of any annexation agreement becomes critically important.
A number of Boulder citizens decided that the City Council was not paying attention to the public’s input and initiated a petition for a ballot measure that would require a vote of the citizens to approve any annexation agreement for CU-South. That petition gained the required number of signatures and the measure will appear on this year’s ballot. If it passes, any annexation agreement will have to be approved by the voters, and without such approval, the city will be prohibited from providing any services other than flood control.
The flood mitigation project for South Boulder Creek currently being studied by the Utilities Department would include a dam running parallel to US 36 extending down to bedrock as well as an earthen berm connecting to it. The structure would use 5 acres of open space property, so it can only be constructed if the Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT) initiates a disposal of the property in accordance with the Open Space Charter. City Council has no discretion in this matter. OSBT has adopted a list of conditions that would have to be met in order for the current board to approve a disposal. The draft annexation agreement currently under consideration largely ignores OSBT’s concerns, so even if City Council approves the annexation agreement, it can still not direct staff to proceed with the flood mitigation project.
Boulder Reservoir
The habitat along the access road to Boulder Reservoir is important for a number of bird species of concern. It is the only remaining nesting area in Boulder County for the once-common Northern Harrier (which you may have originally learned as the Marsh Hawk). It is also one of the last nesting areas we have for American Bitterns.
Female Northern Harrier.
Over the last year, there have been a number of proposals considered by the Boulder Parks and Recreation Department, which has authority over Boulder Reservoir, to build a large restaurant/bar that would be open until midnight, play loud, amplified music and serve liquor. This would likely be disastrous for the important bird populations, and it seems totally inappropriate for many reasons. Turning the reservoir into Coney Island West is hardly the direction we should be going.