“Virtual Open House” Highlights Significant 2024 Open Space Projects

The City of Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Department invites community members to learn about significant projects the department is working on this year through a "virtual open house" webpage. The "virtual open house"webpage includes:

• Significant trail, ecological, agricultural and community projects that OSMP is working on or planning to implement in 2024.
• An interactive project mapthat shows where significant projects are occurring across the city's Open Space and Mountain Parks system.
• A list of 2023 projects and achievementsthat OSMP accomplished last year.
• Information on focus areas and strategies that guide OSMP's long-term work for the community.
• Details on signing up for community nature hikesand volunteer projectsand ways to learn about OSMP work, including trail closures and upcoming recreational and ecological projects.

Each year, OSMP staff conduct more than 300 projects to help maintain and improve Boulder open space and help our community enjoy and protect shared public lands. The "virtual open house" and interactive project map highlight significant projects OSMP is working on or planning to implement this year. Those include:

• Consulting with Tribal Representatives as part of several ongoing collaborative projects the city is conducting with Tribal Nations, including a collaborative concept plan for land with a community connection to the Sand Creek Massacre.
• Constructing new trails, such as the North Sky Trail, and conducting numerous trail and trailhead improvement maintenance projects across the city's trail system.
• Mowing a 30-foot strip of open space land next to four neighborhoods as part of citywide efforts to help address and reduce shared wildfire risks in our community.
• Thinning trees on open space - which helps to provide habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, support more diverse vegetation communities and reduce wildfire risk.
• Using cattle to conduct targeted grazing of tall oatgrass, an invasive grass that spreads rapidly, threatens unique plant communities and can fuel wildfires.
• Improving stream areas - which provide critical habitats for various wildlife and plant species - by conducting ongoing restoration efforts.
• Addressing conflicts between agriculture and prairie dogs on over 150 acres of irrigated agricultural land, restoring native plant communities in the presence of prairie dogs and improving agricultural infrastructure, including irrigation and fencing infrastructure.
• Restoring and maintaining agricultural areas and improving open space agricultural facilities to support local farmers and ranchers.

Community members can also learn more about ongoing OSMP efforts by attending/watching Open Space of Board of Trustees meetings (OSBT),which are typically held on the second Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. The OSBT provides feedback to department staff on many open space-related issues and makes recommendations to the Boulder City Council and staff on the acquisition and management of city-managed open space.