BCAS recent conservation activities include:

Partnered with Boulder County Nature Association to host a three-part Conservation Advocacy workshop series. Sessions were held October 25, November 15, and December 6, 2025. Participants have engaged in local advocacy since the workshop series.
Attended quarterly meetings of Audubon Colorado Council to communicate with other Audubon chapters around Colorado and work on common issues.
Attended several events to learn about and support the Colorado Seed Act, to limit the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. The Natural Resources Defense Council has great info on their website and in this video from the 2025 Colorado Pollinator Summit held in Boulder. We expect to share info about commenting on this bill soon.

UPCOMING AND ONGOING PROJECTS AND ISSUES:

Boulder’s Multimodal Assessment Project

Project Timeline

Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks staff have started working on a project to improve access to the City's Open Space trails. This coming April through June, they will be asking for YOUR input on how to enable you to get to trails in ways that reduce climate impacts (e.g. by foot, bus, bike, or e-vehicle).

The Fairview High Mountain Bike team and Boulder Mountainbike Alliance are asking the City for a direct trail connection on Open Space from Fairview High to Doudy Draw, which would mean adding bikes to existing trails and possibly constructing new trails. The existing trails in that area were designated bike-free during the 2011 West Trail Study Area Process, and the area has been designated as Colorado Tallgrass Prairie State Natural Area because of the high-quality habitat.

If you want to keep that area bike-free, safe for pedestrian use and preserve the grassland habitat for native species, we need you to speak out! Let us know where to send details to guide your input this Spring by sending your e-mail address to: conservationissues@boulderaudubon.org. When you email, please use the message header “Boulder City Trails.”

Meanwhile, you can learn about the background for this project, submit comments, and sign up for updates here.

Boulder to Erie Regional Trail

Sunrise along the BERT. Photo by Linda Andes-Georges.

Boulder County, in partnership with the city of Boulder and the town of Erie, evaluated several options for the creation of the Boulder to Erie Regional Trail (BERT), a new soft-surface regional trail connection about nine miles long, linking Boulder and Erie. The project team completed a planning process in the fall of 2024, and the Boulder County Commissioners approved the BERT Plan in October 2024. The BERT Plan presented the RTD corridor as the preferred route.

BCAS commented multiple times during the planning process about how ecologically harmful the route along the RTD tracks would be, in the area from about ½ mile west of 75th Street, adjacent to the Sawhill Ponds Wildlife Preserve, east to the White Rocks Trail. This is about a 2 ½ mile section of the trail.

A contract for design of the BERT was signed by the County in October 2025. The design phase includes a County land use review, which involves a determination of whether the project comforms with the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan (BCCP). The preferred route identified in the Plan, along the RTD corridor, passes through or adjacent to areas with multiple overlapping natural resource designations in the BCCP, and we believe constructing the BERT through these areas will cause permanent harm to irreplaceable ecological systems and species.

BCAS continues to follow this project and we will alert our members of public comment opportunities during the design phase, including the land use review process.

Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan:
Upcoming Public Involvement Opportunities

The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) seeks to protect the natural environment of the Boulder Valley while fostering a livable, vibrant and sustainable community. The plan provides an overview of the community’s desires for future development and preservation of the Boulder Valley. The city and county use it to guide long-range planning.

The major update, which kicked off with a public open house on October 19, 2024, will be the eighth major update to the plan, first adopted in 1977. Since then, major updates have been completed in 1982, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2017.

It is important for conservation voices to be heard as the update progresses.

Learn about the current plan, background, and the update process, and sign up to stay informed here.

Look for the draft plan in early March, and attend a family-friendly Community Open House on March 10 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Dairy Arts Center. Keep up with the current status and other upcoming public involvement opportunities here.

Upcoming City Council and Planning Board Dates

Note: All dates are subject to change

Learn how to participate in meetings

Feb. 12, 2026 | City Council Public Hearing | Area-III Planning Reserve Community Needs Review
March 26, 2026 | Tentative Joint City Council Study Session | Review of draft plan and Land Use Map
Early April | Tentative four-body meeting to review draft policies related to both city and county
June 4, 2026 | Joint City Council Public Hearing with Planning Board | Final Plan and Land Use Map
June 16, 2026 | Planning Board deliberation and vote
June 18, 2026 | City Council deliberation and vote

NoCo Places

In early 2024, BCAS became a partner in NoCo Places, a coalition of eight county, state, and federal public land agencies from north-central Colorado who are actively collaborating to address the challenges the mountains and foothills in this region are facing from high visitation and a growing population.

NoCo Places is one of nineteen Regional Partnerships around Colorado - part of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Regional Partnership (RPI) Program, established by Governor Polis in 2020. GOCO has $50 million over the next five years for RPIs and Colorado Outdoor Strategy to address the problem of increased demand for recreation. No other state has attempted this on this scale.

NoCo Places projects include:

Unauthorized Trail Rehabilitation - “Unauthorized, or ‘social’, trails emerge when visitors create unplanned shortcuts or wander off designated routes, often harming sensitive habitats and causing erosion. NoCo Places is working with partners and volunteers to map, prioritize, and rehabilitate these trails across Northern Colorado.” This quote is from the project webpage where you will also find a fact sheet and a summary of progress so far.
Lefthand Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle Stakeholder Engagement - Stakeholders, including BCAS, met in late 2024 to discuss how best to reopen this area to motorized recreation after the 2013 flood caused closure to motorized access. NoCo Places has taken over facilitating, to help the effort to continue to move forward. Click here for more info and to view the Stakeholder Meeting Report.

The Boulder County Audubon Society leadership thanks the members of the BCAS Conservation Committee for their time and efforts in helping educate and advocate for Boulder County’s birds, wildlife, and their habitats. If you are interested in joining this effort, or any other BCAS committees, please contact us.

Conservation Corner - February 2026