[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:01] And we're recording. Good evening. And thank you for attending the August 27th meeting of the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee meeting.
[0:14] My name is Trace Baker, and I'm Chair for this session. First, we'll start with roll call. Trace Baker, President.
[0:22] Ariel Barbieri.
[0:25] President.
[0:26] Carol Barley.
[0:27] President.
[0:29] Christine Johnson.
[0:30] Here.
[0:32] Lauren Kelso.
[0:33] Here.
[0:33] Vicki Lawrence is excused.
[0:36] Joan Lutz.
[0:38] And Jeff Odie.
[0:39] I do not see him here.
[0:42] John White.
[0:44] Okay.
[0:44] Thank you.
[0:46] There are no topics on tonight's agenda requiring a decision
[0:50] or a recommendation of a decision by Posec, therefore we will not be accepting public input tonight.
[1:00] First topic, isn't it?
[1:02] Christine Johnson, I aren't the voting on the...
[1:07] We're not making a recommendation to the county commissioners.
[1:10] Ah, that we are voting.
[1:12] Yes.
[1:14] But we're not taking public opinion on that.
[1:18] So Jeff Audie did show up, so he is present.
[1:32] Okay, so our first topic is an information topic.
[1:36] An Natalie Springment is going to be rising us
[1:40] on the advisory board standardization
[1:43] in general public comment.
[1:46] It's all yours Natalie.
[1:48] Thank you, Ter.
[1:49] Good evening.
[1:50] My name is Natalie Springett,
[1:52] and I am the commissioner's deputy.
[1:54] I appreciate the opportunity this evening to present to Pozac.
[1:59] For some additional context, Boulder County boards and committees are overseeing by the Commissioner's Office,
[2:05] which is the department I run here at Boulder County and why I'm presenting on this topic to you all this evening.
[2:12] I will be speaking to the topic of the change in general public comment at Pozac meetings that was implemented in April 2026.
[2:23] Both are county continues to advance its strategic priority of good governance by regular
[2:29] revealing how county resources are used and identify opportunities to improve efficiency,
[2:36] consistency and clarity in county operations.
[2:41] Earlier this year, as part of the
[2:42] efficiencies work, the Commissioner's Office reviewed Post Act's meeting structure,
[2:48] agenda setting process and public comment practices.
[2:53] This led to implementing changes to post-acts meeting process including no longer having
[2:59] general public comment and instead allowing public comment on specific agenda items
[3:05] where recommendation to the BOCC is made.
[3:10] Having the recording act as the meeting minutes.
[3:14] Having agenda topics aligned with the areas of authority, listed in the Post Act by
[3:19] Laws, as well as setting a standard end time for meetings to allow for our staff to
[3:25] appropriately schedule their personal time.
[3:29] These process changes were presented to Post Act at the April 2026 annual retreat.
[3:37] Post Act's role is advisory.
[3:38] You all provide recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners on specific topics as outlined in your by-laws.
[3:47] These topics include open-space acquisitions and dispositions, capital improvement plans, management plans and policies.
[3:58] Historically, post-act did accept general public comment, and this has unintentionally created some confusion for the public.
[4:06] Members of the public often assume post that can act on broad issues, even those that fall outside of its advisory authority or belong to different departments.
[4:19] The Boulder County Commissioners offer two monthly public comment opportunities where the public can bring any issue directly to the elected officials who can act.
[4:30] The intention of the process change in April of limiting public comment to areas specifically designated within the POSAC by laws was to eliminate this confusion and to use county resources including staff time to address issues specifically within POSAC's authority.
[4:51] I am here this evening because POSAC has expressed interest in reinstating general public comment and the commissioners have heard this request.
[5:00] I am here on behalf of the Board and the Commissioner's Support Post Act, determining its own meeting structure with regards to in stating general public comment.
[5:13] Should Post Act want to include public general public comment at monthly meetings?
[5:19] Then this evening we would ask that Post Act take a vote on this item.
[5:24] If general public comment does return, in order to align with the efficiencies and
[5:30] consistencies that we are looking for use of county resources here, the Board of County
[5:36] Commissioners would like general public comment to be capped at 30 minutes per meeting
[5:42] with individual speakers limited to three minutes per their public comment time with no
[5:53] commissioners and myself would also request that Post Act meetings continue to adhere to the
[5:59] newly scheduled end time. Additionally, as listed in the memo, we have provided some suggested language
[6:08] for the chair of Post Act to state on the record when opening general public comment. The intention
[6:15] of that is to eliminate any confusion or lack of clarity to members of the public about what
[6:22] post that can and cannot act on and I will end my brief presentation this evening with gratitude
[6:33] for all of you as our post act members and also to our community members. Together, you all
[6:40] continue to contribute to informed and transparent decision-making processes. Thank you.
[6:48] Not only thank you, I post that thanks you and we also thank the county commissioners for a
[6:54] positive response to our concerns about the recent limitations from public input.
[7:01] I've got a number of questions, and I'm sure that other post-hack members will
[7:06] also before we take a vote.
[7:09] So the new structured limits each speaker to three minutes.
[7:13] the bylaws June 25th 2020 section 6.E say public participation will be limited to five
[7:23] and then minutes and in cases where there are many people of what requesting to speak.
[7:30] New structure that you're suggesting, desaps, I mean, that we need to change the bylaws.
[7:36] Thank you for that question, Chair. This would only apply to general public comment, so your post-second
[7:43] still welcome to follow those bylaws for those agenda or decision items, and that both
[7:50] of these five minutes, with allowing a full time on decision items, and three minutes,
[7:55] with no pulling of time for general public comment, aligns with the standards of our other boards.
[8:03] Thank you. So will the general public comment also include online comments, or do people have to be in the hall here?
[8:14] Thank you for that question, and I am going to answer that without having checked in with our streaming staff in the back,
[8:21] But I believe that this can be offered both virtually and in person for your meetings.
[8:27] Okay, thank you.
[8:30] And my understanding of both sacks authority defined under open space management plans and policies is actually quite broad.
[8:42] Because we generally have a plan to cover most of what we discuss here.
[8:49] So, you know, herbicide use, prairie dogs, eagles,
[8:53] those are all covered by plants is my interpretation
[8:57] of that correct.
[8:59] Yes, that is lined with my interpretation as well.
[9:03] OK, thank you.
[9:05] And during general public comment, if the Post Act
[9:11] chair deems a speaker's topic to be outside post-hax authority,
[9:16] can hear she terminate the speaker's time. For example, a number of times people will come
[9:24] in confusing county policy and city open space policy. So if somebody comes in and talks
[9:30] about city open space, can we lightly cut them off or should we let them continue for
[9:38] their three minutes and possibly freeze out somebody else? That would be at the discretion of the
[9:44] that chair, how to handle those instances, our request would just be that you apply that consistently
[9:50] throughout all the meetings you chair.
[9:52] Thank you.
[9:54] Something else that we discussed was relaxing the eight o'clock PM meeting termination time,
[10:04] if there are enough comments to exceed that limit.
[10:09] Did the commissioners discuss this request also?
[10:12] I believe that would actually align with the original intention and presentation to post-acts,
[10:20] where if you are in the middle of active public comment on a decision item, then the need to
[10:27] extend the meeting time for those very specific circumstances would be at the will of both the
[10:35] chair as well as the Parks and Open Space Director. Okay, but since we're moving general
[10:42] public comment to the end of the evening session, we're likely to run up against head
[10:51] eight o'clock limits so can we relax that one? The commissioners did not provide the ability
[10:59] to relax that. And time, I would be happy to discuss having more opportunity for post-act
[11:09] to determine if general public comment should go earlier in the agenda so that you don't
[11:14] run up against that. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that and please do check that out. Do we have
[11:21] any other questions from Posec?
[11:28] When people speak your name, please?
[11:30] John White, Posec.
[11:33] The people give public comments to us on things that we can't control.
[11:41] There were a bunch of people that we're talking about, open writing at the Fairgrounds.
[11:48] We couldn't control it.
[11:49] We don't want to waste their time if we're hearing comments about something that we don't control does this just go into the ether or did the commissioners get some feedback?
[12:02] I doubt they sit and watch all these.
[12:04] It's all 33 of the advisory committees.
[12:09] Is it?
[12:10] I don't want people to waste their time.
[12:13] I won't give them an opportunity to be heard.
[12:19] How does this get to the commissioners?
[12:20] Thank you for that question committee member way.
[12:24] Our ask would just be that if there are specific topics, that is very clear to you,
[12:29] sit within the BOCC's authority,
[12:32] then at the end of public comment, you provide that kind direction to them,
[12:36] so that they could attend either of the commissioners,
[12:40] monthly public comment sessions,
[12:42] and I just want to echo what you're bringing up is
[12:45] And one of the examples of where we've seen confusion occur.
[12:52] So, Carol.
[12:53] Carol Bireley-Poseck.
[12:56] Thank you for your presentation.
[12:58] I appreciate the desire to have equity and
[13:04] and similarity among all the advisory committees.
[13:08] But I would say that Poseck is not like all of the other advisory committees,
[13:12] Because Pozac is a statutory committee, it is attached to the tax that we love
[13:19] on people to pay for our open space and the idea and it even preceded the parks and open space department.
[13:27] The idea is that if we're going to tax people, we should have citizen input on how we spend that money.
[13:35] And so I don't think we are just any advisory committee.
[13:39] We have this responsibility, and it has money attached to it.
[13:45] And so I am distressed by the thought of limiting the public comment on these things because this is a big program.
[14:00] It's an important program, and it's using a lot of money that people have paid in their taxes and we should be able to hear their comments.
[14:08] And so can you please respond to my assertion that Posec is not like all of the other advisory committees?
[14:17] Thank you for that question committee member by early.
[14:20] Many of our advisory committees are created through voter approved ballot measures.
[14:28] And so there are a lot of similarities in how voter approved ballot measures have moved forward,
[14:33] including the formation of those advisory committees.
[14:38] So that would be something that we do have a lot of experience with in our boards and committees work.
[14:45] And so there are different levels of what advisory committees consider.
[14:53] A lot of the ones tied to these voter-provalent measures are there in order to ensure
[15:00] And then in a transparent manner. So while you're not similar to planning commission, you are similar to a handful of our other committees and boards that we do here have here at Boulder County.
[15:18] Okay, I'm still upset by the limit on public comment.
[15:26] I think it's exactly the wrong direction that we should be going in local government these days.
[15:31] There's a crisis in government in our country.
[15:34] And Boulder County is a progressive community.
[15:37] And I, that paragraph that was written,
[15:41] if I was chair, I would be embarrassed to read that paragraph.
[15:45] And tell people that, yeah, the comments, the comments, no, I'm talking about the paragraph
[15:53] that has been provided to us the three paragraph paragraph.
[15:59] We will now receive, I think it's bureaucratic, it's not friendly, and I would be embarrassed
[16:09] to say it.
[16:10] So, I guess you said that we had discretion to control these things, but I, this all feels punitive to me, Natalie.
[16:23] It feels punitive, and I don't understand why it's happening.
[16:28] Thank you for your feedback, Committee Member Byrly.
[16:31] I do want to be really clear on the record, and no way is this punitive.
[16:35] We at Boulder County are looking at all different ways to ensure that our county resources and staff time are used efficiently.
[16:44] And so we are looking at this in multiple function areas of the county.
[16:49] Our budget is greatly impacted.
[16:52] Our staff are experiencing layoffs.
[16:55] We are looking at operating cuts across the board.
[16:58] And in order to ensure that the staffing resources that we have available can meet all the needs of our boards and committees.
[17:07] While it's a difficult decision, it is a decision that I as the director of boards and committees stand by.
[17:16] So, thank you.
[17:17] Thank you, Natalie, before I pass it on, I just want to make a quick comment for the benefit of some of our newer members here.
[17:26] Several years ago, our past director, Theresa Loachy, made the comment during a public session that post-accus the voice of the people.
[17:37] And so I think as you will find the discussion here, we are asserting that interest in being the voice of the people, Christine.
[17:48] Christine Johnson, Posec.
[17:52] In your memo, you assert that people who are not able to make comments to Posec can make their comments directly to the BOCC,
[18:09] That's two half-hour periods per month, limited to 10 people each, and I feel like what's
[18:18] going on with Posec and what's going on with the BOCC is part of a general strategy to
[18:24] limit public input and the kind of public input that it receives and it looks like you're
[18:31] trying to control public input and the Board of County Commissioners and all staff serve
[18:36] the public and like Carol I this feels like an end run around the public and around public
[18:44] input and I have to find a concerning. I don't believe that we have had public input since
[18:54] we reconvened not once since after our six months off during the search for it
[19:06] a new director, and we've only had one opportunity for post-sec members to make comments.
[19:15] And I want to point out that we had three strongly worded letters that came in one from
[19:24] the former chair of Posec, objecting to what's going on.
[19:30] And when, essentially, when public feedback gets shunted to people writing to us through the
[19:41] portal, the only way that other members of the public can see that is with a core request.
[19:48] If I find correct, and that's another dampening on public discourse, I just want to point
[19:56] that we got really extensive letter from Tony Lewis, who was on Posec. I believe for six years was
[20:06] chair for two years. We also had comments from Wendy Sweet, former chair of the, I was
[20:17] get the acronym wrong, the Boulder Mount Michael Lines, one line from her, I'm concerned that
[20:26] POSAC and the public have had almost no opportunity to participate in developing this
[20:32] new management approach. Michael Barrow, I hope you have an eliminated the public invited
[20:37] to be heard segment of your regular meeting agenda, as this is an important tool for hearing
[20:42] what Boulder County residents have to say.
[20:45] Moreover, when we heard about the proposed alternate days thing,
[20:52] it was a faith accompli, and we did not have, we didn't have feedback into it,
[20:59] and then it went on to just be a boondoggle at the County Commissioner meeting,
[21:05] and if it had gone through post-SAC first, I think a lot of embarrassment for the commissioners
[21:10] would have been saved.
[21:16] I'd like to read a few snippets from Tony's letter because, once again, it's private
[21:22] because he's not here to speak because he's not allowed to speak.
[21:27] A plan to limit how much the public is allowed to say was decided without any input from
[21:32] the public or from post-ac.
[21:34] This is not scheduling fix.
[21:36] It's a bylaws rewrite smuggled in as a memo.
[21:39] You don't need a legal opinion to see what's obvious.
[21:42] You're overriding what the bylaws already provide for and doing it through a memo instead of an open process with notice in a real chance for post hack and the public to weigh in.
[21:54] I'll stop right there.
[21:56] Would you like to help me with that?
[22:00] I'm happy to grab one after the fact I just not at this exact moment.
[22:04] Thank you, committee member.
[22:05] In committee member Johnson, thank you for your feedback this evening. I do appreciate it.
[22:10] I do just want to provide a slight correction that the two commissioner public comment sections are an hour,
[22:17] and then a 90 minute session.
[22:21] That's, I read it directly from BOCC website, so maybe that needs to be updated.
[22:28] Thank you for letting me know that.
[22:30] The county commissioners do publish their e-mails as a trace-baker post-ac. They do publish their e-mails.
[22:38] I did e-mail one of the commissioners on a non-post-ac topic, and she did respond.
[22:46] So that's not totally a black hole. Jeff?
[22:51] Yeah, Jeff Addy Poseck, I guess my question is maybe for the more senior members of the committee here, since I'm kind of new.
[23:02] It seems like apologize for that.
[23:06] It seems like the impetus for the change is that at least like, you know, what I'm hearing from Natalie is,
[23:18] is that there are in previous iterations of POSAC,
[23:22] there's been an open public comment period where there's like a lot of commentary
[23:27] from members of the public that is not relevant to the business of POSAC,
[23:31] and that that is not a good use of kind of resources.
[23:36] I'm assuming that they're referring to the staff members,
[23:41] the kind of staff members who are here and I know I've heard from other members of the committee
[23:49] at our retreat and things that there have been sort of legendary meetings that went to
[23:53] midnight or whatever and so I guess I'm wondering like in the view of the more senior members of
[24:01] the committee has that been an issue that you're hearing a lot of commentary that is not relevant or
[24:10] but I guess like, how big a problem is that in your view?
[24:19] Trace Baker, post hack, this is my seventh year on post hack.
[24:25] I've been here longer than any of the other members.
[24:28] And in general, it's quite rare to have public comment
[24:34] outside of our jurisdiction as defined in Natalie's memo.
[24:40] you know, when I do hear that through, when I have heard those public comments, it generally has
[24:47] been confusion between city open space and county open space, but it doesn't have been very often.
[24:56] Sure. Carol, Bireley, pose a. When you're talking about legendary meetings, that would
[25:03] up weed control. And the weed control issue, and I'm a public policy walk, and the weed control
[25:12] issue was fascinating, because it was turned around by the public. And it was public comment,
[25:22] and Post Act was educated in that process, and the county commissioners changed their
[25:30] views but it took a year and it involved a lot of public comment and I thought that was
[25:37] good public policy and I see that other jurisdictions are catching up with us on our
[25:44] weed control thing. So you can't do this in 30 minutes or I think the whole pooling of
[25:52] comments is a good idea, because if neighbors think, and we've had others with some of the
[26:04] new land that we've got where the neighbors get involved, they can move things while they educate us
[26:11] and that takes time. But the pooling is very valuable because if there's someone who's really
[26:18] can get into the issues instead of them all repeating the same thing over and over again.
[26:24] So I don't think, I mean, a late night is, it's, I've been staff, I know it's hard to be late,
[26:31] but then public policy is arduous, and especially when there's an important issue.
[26:39] And so, so, and it can come and go, but that's what that's what the legendary thing is.
[26:44] And I saw it as really moving, moving policy in a healthy way.
[26:52] Thank you, girl.
[26:53] Jeff, any more?
[26:54] Well, I guess I'll just like play Devils.
[26:56] I had to get a little bit on the weed control issue because, I mean, I personally was
[27:01] also at, you know, Commissioner Town Hall that got sort of taken over by the weed control issue.
[27:08] And so there were other venues for people to show up and make their voices heard.
[27:12] I don't know if that's necessarily going to decide my voter or anything, but I thought that was worth pointing out.
[27:20] Thank you. Lauren.
[27:21] Sure. Lauren Kelso.
[27:24] Hi, Natalie. I think what occurred to me as I was reviewing all of this is just that all of this that we're actually talking about tonight.
[27:33] The boundaries, the schedules, the by-law references, sort of general himming in of these boards and commissions.
[27:41] You know,
[27:44] I actually do feel quite understanding about what staff is up against and what
[27:49] are counties up against when it comes to our budget and also just the staff time that
[27:53] goes into these things.
[27:54] And as Carol said, these things can be incredibly time consuming and complex.
[27:59] But my takeaway was that we are missing the point entirely with this topic of 30 minutes
[28:06] of public comment or not. I think what we've done so far is the easy part and the hard part
[28:14] is figuring out how to facilitate and utilize advisory boards and public engagement processes
[28:20] in a way that's meaningful and beneficial and does build like good long-term policy.
[28:28] This department faces, you know, her wickedest problems in conservation, in agriculture, in recreation, in forestry, it is, it's what makes this department really important and the work that staff does so important and challenging and they get the, you know, they get to pleasure of face all of these forever while standing on a stage.
[28:55] So, you know, we commend you for that, but it doesn't make your jobs any easier to not have the public involved in that process.
[29:06] And I think that is what I would like the commissioners to hear through this process, which is that the reason we're having all these conversations is because people don't feel like
[29:16] The expert opinions and thoughts and feelings and way things that this program affects people is being sort of taken into consideration in the long term.
[29:26] And I think we need better tools around that.
[29:30] I think we need to find a productive and meaningful way to have our advisory boards and our public engage in these decisions.
[29:37] And so far, I just see frustration around anything that's hard.
[29:41] Anything that's hard, everybody just feels frustrated.
[29:43] And I think that comes from staff, I think it comes from the commissioners.
[29:46] I think it comes from the public and it comes from our advisory board.
[29:49] So, I am left feeling like kind of the public comment period can come or go.
[29:54] And we need a better system as a community for...
[30:00] Acleaning these really hard problems. I think that while staff is highly skilled and incredibly smart and the ones that are responsible for all of these outcomes, you aren't always felt really resource.
[30:16] You aren't always receiving all of the information, you probably need to be.
[30:20] And the commissioners always have priorities of their own. And that is what these advisory boards are for is to bring a broader scope to your work.
[30:29] So I guess all of that is to just say I think there's some really important tools I would
[30:37] like staff in the commissioners to consider when it comes to conflict resolution.
[30:42] I've seen tools that are really important for big heavy topics because they are going
[30:46] to come up forever for this department.
[30:49] I think there's some really important that deliberative democracies sort of model that I'm learning
[30:54] a lot about right now.
[30:55] I think it's really valuable.
[30:56] Well, I think there's just a lot of tools out there, and I'm not sure how I'm going to vote on all of this tonight, but right now I just feel like it lacks the complexity that this department deserves to just be talking about like who's going to get to talk for three minutes about what.
[31:11] So that's more comment.
[31:14] Of course, but I really appreciate the effort and the time you guys are putting in to try to make this all function, because I know it's not an easy time to do it.
[31:23] Are you?
[31:25] Yeah.
[31:26] Hi.
[31:26] Are you all about very, very deep?
[31:28] Thank you for saying all that.
[31:31] Great.
[31:33] And then I had a question.
[31:35] So if the, if Posec were to not approve this, what is the process?
[31:41] How does this come back to us?
[31:43] Is this the one and done?
[31:43] Is this an iterative process that like, you would come back with incorporating comments that
[31:49] have been made here tonight or how does that go?
[31:53] Thank you for that question.
[31:56] I do not have any additional direction from my board to bring any of this back for their
[32:04] reconsideration.
[32:06] Should you need that, I'm happy to ask them to watch this part of the meeting so that they
[32:13] And here are your comments.
[32:16] Directly, I wouldn't want any of that to be summarized
[32:20] for their understanding.
[32:23] And so from the direction I have for my board,
[32:27] it is I'm bringing forward this specific request today.
[32:31] And there's no next steps outside of that
[32:35] that I am directed to complete.
[32:37] Thank you.
[32:39] Oh, thank you.
[32:40] Anything more from Postsack?
[32:42] I'm sorry.
[32:44] But I'm, Carol Bireley, pose that.
[32:48] Correct me if I'm wrong.
[32:49] It sounded like the commissioner said that we can determine how we receive public comment.
[32:55] And that it's up to us, how we receive public comment.
[32:58] As long as it remains within the 30 minute time frame, aligns with the three minutes per person and no pulling time.
[33:06] And it here is to the eight minute end time as referenced in the memo in both in my comments.
[33:14] John.
[33:15] John White, both that.
[33:16] Why no pooling, that that seems to be an efficient use of time instead of a, that just
[33:23] seems to be somewhat optimal.
[33:26] Thank you for that question, committee member White.
[33:29] The reason is that that's a standardization across what are other boards who receive
[33:35] general public comment have in place, including the Board of County Commissioners, and that
[33:40] only refers to general public comment and does not make changes to your agenda public comment
[33:47] on specific decisions of advising the B.O.C.C.
[33:51] I have a question.
[33:53] Sorry.
[33:54] Lauren Kelso, one question that also occurs to me is like we've talked so much about public
[33:58] comment and one of the things that was also brought up earlier is just how our written comments
[34:04] are handled.
[34:04] Do you guys have experience with handling public the written comments processes that I've participated in for like big hard things?
[34:13] There's like a process of publishing them of sort of recognizing them of sometimes analyzing them and then providing feedback as a staff is the county.
[34:22] Do you guys ever have you considered other ways to handle your written comments, but doesn't just feel like it's going into a box?
[34:29] Thank you for the question committee member Kelso. I cannot speak to that on behalf of Parks and Open Space because we I have a specific process for how I handle the BOCCs.
[34:42] They're comments. Yes.
[34:45] Is it more complex than how we handle it at Parks and Open Space?
[34:49] I don't know if I would say it was more complex. I would say it was more responsive.
[34:52] it's more it's governed by more statutes and who could address that is that something that like
[34:59] Jason or staff could take on to sort of rework how we handle public comments or that have to
[35:03] kind of written comments or is that to come from that commissioners or if we wanted to change that
[35:10] my understanding is my understanding is that conversation would start with your parks and open space
[35:16] Director.
[35:20] A very little small trace-baker post-sac, the post-sac does have an agenda item where we
[35:27] may bring up anything that we want to that's not on an assigned topic for the night.
[35:34] As post-sac members, we can certainly bring up written comments that we see as dead Christine
[35:42] talk about Tony Lewis's extensive comment today. So that's possible, but it's still informal
[35:50] and there's no process as such. Thank you. Ariel. I follow a question. I guess my earlier question.
[36:00] If and said this were to be approved, is this how it's written forever? There's no changing. How would we
[36:05] about changing the 30 minute public comment for general public comment in the three minutes
[36:12] is would that have to be something that is brought kind of like this was today from the commissioners
[36:18] or is that something that we would have the authority to change? Thank you for that question.
[36:27] You as public would not have the authority to change that but I do feel that the commissioners are
[36:33] trying to be responsive to your asks.
[36:38] And so if that would be something you would be interested in,
[36:41] I would encourage you all as an advisory committee
[36:44] to write a letter to the BOCC so that they can respond
[36:48] similarly to how they're trying to respond this evening
[36:52] by having me present.
[36:55] Thank you.
[36:55] I see Jason came up to the front.
[36:59] Jason, do you have something
[37:02] to add to the discussion so far,
[37:08] which are the spot?
[37:10] Jason, the Director of Parks and Open Space.
[37:12] I was just getting a little closer, you know,
[37:15] a little closer to the conversation.
[37:19] I appreciate this discussion.
[37:21] I appreciate Natalie being here in communicating
[37:22] on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners.
[37:25] And I really appreciate your perspective
[37:28] and the discussion that we're having.
[37:30] Is, gosh, we're a lot of people and we work pretty hard in public comment as one area, but we also work with the public.
[37:38] So we are in constant communication with the public. People connected all levels of staff. We have a general, just even a general box.
[37:48] That general box gets hundreds of comments and submitted to that that we address every single month.
[37:53] So the avenues for engagement with the community are greater than bullsack and greater than the board of county commissioners.
[38:01] We are the people who are actually working on these issues and connecting constantly with our community.
[38:08] So I just wanted to make sure that, you know, these are the only avenues we are in direct conflict.
[38:12] That's the way to most directly I think get in touch with us and to be able to address issues that are on the minds of the people and residents of board our county.
[38:20] so I just wanted to emphasize that particular point. Thanks.
[38:23] Thank you, just Jason.
[38:25] Trace Baker, post-sac.
[38:27] We're not the only talk because tonight's agenda,
[38:31] so to help move things along a little bit.
[38:35] May we have a motion to reinstate public comment
[38:38] using the structure and language presented by Mr. Springnet?
[38:44] Summit.
[38:46] Do we have a second?
[38:47] second. Is there further discussion from post-sac?
[38:55] Okay, we have a vote then all those
[38:57] in favor of the motion is stated. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. So it looks like we haven't passed unanimously.
[39:08] I'm sorry. I actually did not say. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I don't. Okay. So, but we still have
[39:15] I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I. So we have one descending
[39:23] vote so the motion does pass. So, thank you, Natalie. And thank
[39:28] everybody for your comments. And I think if we work to this structure and language and
[39:40] get some experience with it, and if it's not satisfied, I mean, it's satisfactory to the public
[39:48] or to us. We'll ask the commissioner to revisit it. Okay, thank you. Okay, so next up we have,
[40:04] and you can
[40:04] probably introduce yourselves before I find the, okay, so the next gender cultural resources management,
[40:12] a community centered approach.
[40:27] Good evening, post that. Justin Atherton Wood. I'm a supervisor
[40:32] of the cultural resources and planning work group. Tonight I have the honor and pleasure
[40:38] to introduce my colleague, Elizabeth Reels Brooks, who is our cultural resources specialist.
[40:44] I'd also like to introduce Dr. Becky Chavez, a rooted pathways leadership. Dr. Chavez is
[40:52] consultant and colleague and she's serving an important role also as a community connector in our
[40:59] shared endeavor to work with our local community and to expand the historical narratives
[41:03] are department stewards and shares. I'm also grateful to be here with you all today. I appreciate
[41:13] your service and your thoughtfulness in the engagement that you pride with us as staff and also with the community so really I appreciate you being here tonight
[41:26] So tonight we'll be sharing the important work that my colleagues here have been leading that's elevating our communities
[41:32] Latin and Chicano history and connecting that thread to our shared history
[41:38] around open space that we steward. I truly love the community center to approach that they're
[41:45] taking and the like belonging that they're creating. For folks in our community it's really
[41:51] something beautiful to be a part of.
[41:57] So to start off I want to begin with this maybe not so
[42:00] beautiful picture. This is the so-called barracks. It's an historic building that stands on the
[42:09] was taken in 2003 around the time that Parks and Open Space purchased this property.
[42:16] The building is just east of Costco and Longmont and right along St. Frank Creek at about
[42:22] 119th Street. So you can kind of get visual picture of that kind of pastoral, right? Sometimes
[42:28] you see horses out there and the quick silver trail runs nearby. So over the years Parks
[42:37] is acquired many properties in conditions similar to this one, where the structures haven't
[42:42] been well maintained by the previous owners, you know, something typically is happening in
[42:47] their family or they're getting older and don't have the energy and interest that they
[42:51] ones have. So we, as the new owners and managers, have some decisions about whether or not
[42:57] to keep it kind of what level of restoration to potentially provide and also how we might use
[43:04] building or other cultural resources in alignment with our mission. So we literally have hundreds
[43:12] and hundreds of buildings like this one that we're always asking these questions about.
[43:18] So these barracks or last baracas in Spanish are just one example of the wide range of
[43:24] culture resources in our care. And as a planner and the department I have the role in helping
[43:29] to design and facilitate planning processes to inform decisions like how we're going to take care
[43:34] That's right, how are we going to take care of 100 of these and we're going to take care of 500 of these and then also to help communicate how places like
[43:42] Las Baracas are connected to our mission and why they're important places to preserve.
[43:52] So for many years, the emphasis of our department's cultural resources program has been rooted in compliance based cultural resources practices like historic
[44:00] risk or nominations as an example, and in sharing historical narratives that center
[44:05] themes like Euro-descendant Settlement, Landownership, Politics, and Industry.
[44:12] The document, sorry, the documentation pictured here in a slide concerning Las Baracas
[44:18] as an example of these practices, it was the tool that we as staff had at the time that
[44:23] we used to elevate the significance of Las Baracas within this paradigm.
[45:00] Or here, then the story that has this traditional academic approach. There's something more to surface, right?
[45:10] But we just didn't have the skill or awareness to really move toward a different outcome.
[45:18] So fast for it about 20 years from 2003 to 2024.
[45:23] war, and that's when this photo was taken of Las Baracas.
[45:26] A portion of the building was somewhat stabilized, and much of it had been removed from
[45:32] the landscape.
[45:33] Actually, this is about a third of the structure that was in the previous image.
[45:38] But the building actually was starting to stand for something more.
[45:44] It was starting to stand for a spirit of connection and belonging that we at Parks had
[45:48] a desire to cultivate with the community.
[45:51] As expressed through Chris, our cultural responsiveness and inclusion strategic plan.
[45:57] And it was about this time that Elisabeth joined our department as a cultural resources specialist.
[46:02] And as you'll see, she's brought tremendous skill and will to her work.
[46:07] And I honestly am like truly in awe of what she's done in her relatively short tenure.
[46:12] So I want to turn it over to her and Dr. Chavez to share their work about this building
[46:20] Lasparacas in the land on the creek and what it stands for in our community.
[46:28] And I'm just so grateful for the department and the county commissioners supporting the
[46:34] direction that we're going to help us understand the value that this building has for us
[46:41] in this landscape, so with that,
[46:43] turn it over to you, Elizabeth.
[46:44] Thank you, Justin.
[46:47] Like Justin said, my name is Elisabeth Rios Brooks,
[46:50] and I'm the Cultural Resources Program Coordinator.
[46:52] And before I dive into Les Baracas,
[46:54] I figured we could all get on the same page
[46:56] around what even is a cultural resource.
[47:00] So according to the National Preservation Institute,
[47:03] it's more than just detangible.
[47:04] And what I mean by that is that it's more than just a place
[47:07] or an object or a building.
[47:09] It also encompasses the landscapes, the practices,
[47:11] and the stories and memories of people.
[47:16] Historically, when we talked about cultural resources and open space when I arrived, it was very
[47:19] much grounded in historic buildings and archaeological sites.
[47:23] And those are absolutely important and definitely a part of this work.
[47:27] And cultural issues has encompassed more than that.
[47:30] They include, like I said, all of these different intangible pieces.
[47:34] And so in that, I'm asking us to think about the tangible places and objects in conversation with the intangible because it is the intangible that gives these spaces meaning to all kinds of communities.
[47:53] So what I want to talk about here is that we're not replacing traditional preservation, traditional preservation absolutely has a role to play and has for a very long time.
[48:02] We're more so expanding it, and what I mean by that is that when I arrived, definitely the
[48:08] Parkside Open Space Foundation was around compliance, buildings in archaeological sites,
[48:14] academic driven research, and established historical narratives.
[48:18] And the more I got involved, the more I started thinking about, what does it mean to put
[48:23] into practice policy 1.06 on anti-racism?
[48:26] What does anti-racism look like in the context of cultural resources?
[48:31] And so that led me to sort of thinking about how can we fold in and transform how we have worked on cultural resources historically.
[48:40] And so what you see is an adding on.
[48:43] So compliance that includes also community knowledge and oral histories as a part of very real evidence.
[48:49] Buildings and archaeological sites that also incorporate cultural landscape and lived experiences of the people that were actually there.
[48:56] And not just academic driven research, but community-based research and partnerships with the folks
[49:02] that have been on this land for a very long time, much longer than before when we just bought
[49:07] the land. And lastly, yes, establish historic narratives. I have thousands and thousands of books on
[49:14] European settlement in my office. There are three on Latino history in Boulder County. And long
[49:20] actually alone 24% of long my identifies as Latino. And so within that I thought to myself
[49:28] how can I have thousands of books about one thing but what about other communities? They
[49:33] I know that they were part of open space. I know that they were here in Boulder County. And so
[49:39] that got me thinking about how do we tell broader and more inclusive histories on our parks and
[49:49] along.
[49:58] So when I started working here I realized that there was some what of like a
[50:03] disjointing that was happening. There was a siloing of people and stories, places,
[50:08] and things, and systems, and support. And what I mean by people and stories is we've
[50:12] done a phenomenal job in terms of community engagement, right? There are so many
[50:16] incredible programs that we do that support all kinds of folks. And that is one piece. And
[50:21] then we are also done an incredible, lots of incredible work when it comes to buildings and
[50:26] historic preservation and making sure that so many buildings that are historic and require a lot of effort
[50:31] are also kept up and we're talking about hundreds and then lastly those systems and support right
[50:38] leadership and then the money behind supporting this work. And so I came up with this graphic where I realized
[50:45] wait I think if we all worked together there might be something here around not just inclusion and
[50:53] siloing, but making sure that we're also taking that internally. So what I mean by that is if we're
[51:00] not able to work together and create an inclusive culture of belonging internally, how can we do
[51:04] that externally? When it comes to our cultural resources? And so what you see in the middle is stories,
[51:12] stewardship, and structure. I genuinely believe that these three are necessary in order to continue
[51:19] well beyond, once I'm out of parks and open space, I think that this is a lens, a system of accountability,
[51:26] where we can all support one another in being genuinely inclusive and how we do this work internally
[51:33] and therefore externally.
[51:39] So that brings me to resilient roots, our Latin-Chicano historic context study.
[51:45] And so when I started working at parks, it was like, okay, how do we tell these different stories?
[51:49] And my answer was, well, there's only three books written about it.
[51:53] What if we just went and asked people?
[51:56] And that is sort of where the Latin-inch kind of historic context that he emerged.
[52:01] Because it became really clear that there wasn't a lot of archives available that spoke directly to this.
[52:07] And so what we ended up doing was deciding that we were going to do some place-based history work,
[52:13] some place-based history mapping.
[52:15] And instead of deciding, well, I think this building may be important to this community.
[52:20] Going to the community and saying, hey, what spaces and places do you feel seen?
[52:24] Do you feel heard?
[52:25] Do you feel like you belong in unincorporated Boulder County?
[52:30] Guided by community voices and grounded in cultural stewardship. So, the insights, memories and perspectives of these folks have been essential to this work and deeply moving and so emotional and so beautiful and I'm so grateful for all of the community members that despite the difficult political moment that we're having especially for Latino community members still have the courage to share their stories.
[52:57] And with that, I will pass it to Dr. McKee.
[53:01] Hi, I'm Dr. McKee, I was a rooted pathway's leadership and for our approach, we make
[53:07] sure to center community participation by meeting people where they are, where they feel safe.
[53:13] They are the co-creators of what history is being told and how it is being told.
[53:18] We are just going in, taking their stories and leaving, where building relationships, staying
[53:24] present and centering trust in our work as much as we can.
[53:29] Honorary local history is the heart of this study.
[53:31] The Latin and Chicano communities in Northern Colorado
[53:35] have been a part of building our communities for generations.
[53:39] Yet, their stories have often been left out
[53:41] and treated as a footnote to history.
[53:44] So many of the people we've interviewed have told us
[53:47] I didn't think my story mattered.
[53:50] Through this study, their oral histories have lifted those stories
[53:53] helping and to include them in the historic narrative of Boulder County. They reminded us that
[54:00] we are the legacy of their hard work and resilience. Our small group of community connectors,
[54:07] individuals spanning multiple generations serve as our guides, leading us to people to connect
[54:12] with sites we didn't know about and sharing their own family histories and stories and experiences.
[54:19] We've also approached our tribal research through a new lens, intentionally searching out different perspectives on stories that have already been told.
[54:28] Our student research assistants looked at already recognized Boulder County Historic Landmarks to uncover the Latin A history connected to various schools and farms.
[54:38] And for a number of these sites, they found history of the Latin A community that wasn't included in the original applications.
[54:45] As more people have heard about this project, our relationships have grown into partnerships
[54:50] with organizations across the county, the state, and the nation.
[54:56] Latinos inherited to conservation, the Carnegie Library for a local history, and the
[55:01] Long Mountain Museum are a few that we have worked with.
[55:05] And we have uncovered stories about various sites across the county, and Las Baracas is
[55:09] our primary example.
[55:15] With that, let's go back to Las Baracas.
[55:20] And I want to tell you a little bit of the story,
[55:22] and a little bit about the people pictured here.
[55:25] So Las Baracas is the surviving remnant of a farm worker
[55:28] housing complex on what was once the Tanaka family's large
[55:31] agricultural operation near Longmont,
[55:34] have folks heard of the Tanaka's before.
[55:37] The Tanaka's were a Japanese-American farming family
[55:40] who expanded their operation after World War II
[55:43] and became major producers of vegetable and other crops
[55:46] in Boulder and Wild Counties.
[55:48] To house the seasonal workforce needed for this operation,
[55:50] and we're talking about 500 to 600 people,
[55:53] the Farm Use surplus military barracks from World War II,
[55:57] converting them into housing for agricultural workers.
[56:00] Over the following decades,
[56:02] the barracks became home to Mexican and Mexican-American migrant
[56:04] and seasonal farm working families
[56:06] who worked in the surrounding fields and packing operations.
[56:09] But the 1980s, Tonaka Farms had grown into a substantial agricultural enterprise around
[56:16] five more than 5,000 acres of land, and then, like I said, five to 600 workers.
[56:22] Those workers in the 80s raised concerns about housing and working conditions.
[56:27] These conditions became the subject of a federal lawsuit in the late 1980s.
[56:31] Families continued living at the site until the early 1990s, when residents and the
[56:35] were ultimately displaced in the farm operation was shut down in 1991.
[56:41] In 2003, two of the three remaining barracks were removed
[56:45] and Boulder County purchased it, but community advocacy
[56:48] held preserve one building, the one that you see pictured here today.
[56:53] Today, that surviving barrack now in Boulder County open space
[56:56] is an important physical connection to the intertwined histories
[56:59] of Japanese American agriculture, Mexican and Mexican American farm labor,
[57:03] migration, housing, and community life in Boulder County. So I would like to share a little
[57:09] bit about these pictures on the top right corner. You see me and Becky and Juan and his wife,
[57:17] Juan was a little boy who grew up at Las Barracas. Juan is also pictured on a tricycle in the bottom
[57:23] of the bottom picture and we had the privilege of talking not only with him but also his mom.
[57:29] On the couch, you'll see Margarita his mom and Juan laying down and that's actually inside
[57:35] of Las baracas.
[57:37] This type of information cannot be found in archives and the museums and libraries in
[57:42] Boulder County.
[57:43] That's because they live in Margarita's archive, they live in community archives.
[57:48] And what I love so much about these pictures is that they're so personal.
[57:54] Excuse me.
[57:55] Carol Barley.
[57:56] What do you mean by Margarita's archives?
[57:59] Literally, the shoe box under her bed.
[58:02] Okay, okay, that's it.
[58:04] No problem.
[58:05] Thank you for that's a great question.
[58:07] And so what I really love about the picture of actually
[58:11] Juan Langedown in that red bed is that Margarita tells the story
[58:14] that this red bed was passed down from sort of apartments
[58:18] apartment within the barrack for different kids to sleep on.
[58:23] As kids grew up, it just continued to be passed down.
[58:25] And that's a story that we have never heard before, right?
[58:29] It's a glimpse into the lives of what Latino migrants at this time, farm workers, were experiencing.
[58:35] Their whole family talks about how they didn't know what they didn't have, that they were happy.
[58:42] And I love the picture again of him and the tries to go because they're at a party.
[58:46] They're having a party right outside Las Barracas, and you can see the Barracas just in the back.
[58:50] And so this is just one story of many that we haven't covered across Boulder County.
[58:56] And then the last picture on the bottom left is actually at Cinco de Mayo this year.
[59:01] We printed out pictures of Las Barracas and had kids color them in.
[59:05] Because there were so many kids and families that lived at Las Barracas.
[59:08] It only made sense to include kids today and ask them to reimagine what would it look like now?
[59:21] There are places we drive past every day without a second thought.
[59:25] I drove past Las Baracas, and a number of other Boulder County historic landmark sites, hundreds of times.
[59:32] Now, because of the study, I have the stories behind these places.
[59:36] We want to make sure that others don't just drive past them without a second thought, either.
[1:00:00] Pointing out different places around Las Baracas on a map that we're meaningful to him.
[1:00:05] Later Elizabeth was able to walk through the sites with his parents, Magarita and Manuel, who added to his story.
[1:00:13] Juan, Grujogru, up near Las Barac, in and near Las Baracas, pointed out the small house his family lived in just west of the barracks.
[1:00:21] Where you can still see a pine tree, his dad planted when Juan's brother was born.
[1:00:26] He shared a story about Envolzke, a forested area by the St.
[1:00:30] Rains Creek where kids would go and fish and play in the water.
[1:00:35] He took us across the highway when 19 took place where Diktonaka lived, and where there
[1:00:40] were more barracks to house workers.
[1:00:42] And he shared his favorite fishing spot on long the creek across from the water treatment plant.
[1:00:48] Where the water wasn't so safe, and he now wonders what might have been in it back then.
[1:00:55] There were also moments of fear that were a part of history.
[1:00:59] As a child, one remembers people dying La Migra, immigration was near.
[1:01:05] He'd read and hide what the others, whenever they could find a place near the river, in
[1:01:09] a storage shed, in the dumpster.
[1:01:12] I have known point for close to 30 years and never knew this part of history.
[1:01:18] We often forget or were moving too fast to ask people about their experiences and what shape
[1:01:23] who they are today.
[1:01:25] This study helped me learn more about my friend and his family.
[1:01:29] And I can definitely see how his experiences at Las Baracas
[1:01:32] prepared him to be a fighter, fire fighter,
[1:01:36] serving the community he grew up in.
[1:01:39] And from the Archival work in oral histories,
[1:01:42] we were able to build a timeline of this history
[1:01:44] which Elizabeth will share with you.
[1:01:47] So we wanted to make a timeline of what we've compiled.
[1:01:51] And the Temacca is actually arrived in 1908.
[1:01:55] They didn't really settle in Canfield,
[1:01:57] the area until the 1930s and start farming.
[1:02:00] But I wanted to point out, we talked about the Temacca's arrival
[1:02:03] in the 1930s.
[1:02:04] We talked about Mexican Mexican American families living
[1:02:07] at Las Barracas by 1960, the federal lawsuit in 1988,
[1:02:12] the displacement of those families in eviction in 1991.
[1:02:16] 2003, when Boulder County purchased it.
[1:02:19] And then, 2025, when I started working here.
[1:02:21] and nominated the site to be an endangered,
[1:02:24] a Latinx endangered landmark through Latinos
[1:02:27] and historic preservation.
[1:02:31] And so we received and are now a part of that list.
[1:02:36] And that has given us such an incredible platform
[1:02:39] on a national scale to shine a light on this space.
[1:02:43] And what happened?
[1:02:44] I got contacted by a lot of reporters
[1:02:46] that it's talking about it as much as I could with anyone
[1:02:48] who'd want to talk about it.
[1:02:49] If you ask anyone at work,
[1:02:50] and nobody wants to hear about anymore.
[1:02:53] And it was really so beautiful seeing on social media,
[1:02:57] people would post some of the newspaper articles,
[1:03:00] and the comments would say, I grew up there.
[1:03:02] I remember going there to visit my grandma.
[1:03:04] And it was so dozens and dozens of comments
[1:03:07] whether on Instagram or Facebook or other places.
[1:03:10] And that's what I realized, whoa,
[1:03:12] this is not just a building,
[1:03:14] this is something so much more than that.
[1:03:16] This is a landing place for a lot of families
[1:03:19] who actually stayed here, who continue to create their lives here, who have businesses here in
[1:03:26] Longma and Boulder County. And it has been such a privilege to learn from them stories that I could
[1:03:33] learn to know where else. And that's where we are today. We're continuing to do oral histories.
[1:03:39] I recently received a grant from the state to do an archaeological study of Las Paracas that
[1:03:43] will hopefully take place next year. And we're continuing to do that research and preservation
[1:03:48] So that we can make sure that these stories are continued to be told beyond just this.
[1:03:54] And the stories have definitely reached a national level.
[1:03:56] I was at a conference in Chicago last week with Latinos in historic heritage conservation.
[1:04:02] And there's a woman in Nevada who they have a barracks on their land.
[1:04:06] And we have similar Japanese and Mexican-American connections.
[1:04:10] And she's doing the work on her own.
[1:04:12] And so the woman at LHC was like, oh my goodness.
[1:04:17] I need to connect you to the people in Boulder County, because they're doing this work already.
[1:04:21] You could be such a wonderful resource.
[1:04:23] So this is moving beyond just Boulder County.
[1:04:26] It's expanding to places that these stories, again, if you drive, drive around now,
[1:04:32] and you will see various kind of a lot of farms.
[1:04:35] So it's having an impact in a lot of places that we never even imagined.
[1:04:42] And I just want to end by seeing sort of what I said in the beginning, which was cultural
[1:04:48] resources are not separate from open space. They are part of what makes these landscapes
[1:04:52] meaningful. These are the stories, these are the people who I want to make sure we remember
[1:04:57] these and we make sure that we share on open space. I have a vision in which everyone feels
[1:05:05] welcome and like they belong in our parks and open spaces because we are telling stories that
[1:05:09] represent not just one community but multiple. Thank you.
[1:05:17] Thank you very much for a very informative
[1:05:20] of presentation, these are things that I did not know before.
[1:05:24] So I learned a lot, thank you.
[1:05:26] Do we have any questions or comments from post-ac?
[1:05:31] Lauren.
[1:05:32] Yeah, Lauren.
[1:05:32] So thank you all so much.
[1:05:34] What a cool, this is, I've been wanting to hear more
[1:05:37] about Las Badacas, because I've seen little snippets of it
[1:05:40] as you mentioned in the news and other things.
[1:05:43] And I am really, I'm sort of inspired to think about in my work.
[1:05:49] I'm sending out a lot of time thinking about agricultural housing
[1:05:51] for the future and I think I'm sort of inspired by what you all are doing here and capturing
[1:05:59] those stories and what does it tell us for what the future of our open space lands can
[1:06:04] mean to families and people who work in agriculture. So I think there's so much to learn
[1:06:10] here. I think there's I love the storytelling piece of all this. I am curious what's the output
[1:06:17] of where do we get to experience these stories and hear more?
[1:06:24] I really appreciate that question because I love this part of oral history actually.
[1:06:30] So we're currently writing a historic context.
[1:06:32] Not everyone wants to read a 300 pages story context I get it.
[1:06:36] And so actually an immediate output is we're also working with six college students
[1:06:41] and they're each creating scenes. Has anyone heard of a scene?
[1:06:44] Okay, it's basically like a small magazine that is really easily replicable, that you can drop in different places.
[1:06:51] And they've each picked different stories, and I have had two students pick less barrakas.
[1:06:54] And they're each following a story in these little booklets.
[1:06:57] We're going to drop those off at different libraries, cultural centers, and spaces around Boulder County.
[1:07:02] Because, you know, the fact that you can pick something up and just read, huh?
[1:07:05] To know about that is really powerful in a way that is really accessible.
[1:07:09] And I think beyond that, we're also doing a lot of presentations this fall.
[1:07:13] This is sort of the first one kicking us off across Boulder County.
[1:07:30] We'll be at the Museum of Boulder, maybe the Museum of Longline. Again, lots of spaces and places that are eager to hear these stories, and that's what I found from our beautiful community here in Boulder County. People really want to know. They're curious. And some of the comments like I was saying and in those posts were definitely like, I didn't know that was there. I drive past it every single day and I had no idea.
[1:07:52] I think a lot of your agricultural community here would be really interested in a lot of this too, so maybe we'll connect afterwards.
[1:07:58] And I think a part of that too is listening to what the community wants to do with their stories.
[1:08:04] So it's not just us saying we're going to do this, but it's listening to them.
[1:08:08] And honoring of maybe we just paid last but not because make it beautiful and put a sign.
[1:08:14] Simple as simple.
[1:08:16] Simple as that.
[1:08:17] Easy as that.
[1:08:18] Or something grander.
[1:08:20] But definitely we're not driving that they are going to be driving that.
[1:08:24] And there have been many asks.
[1:08:26] And I will leave it there.
[1:08:30] Thank you.
[1:08:31] Christine?
[1:08:32] Christine Johnson, post-sac.
[1:08:34] I'm going to make two points by telling a story.
[1:08:39] My story is that once upon a time was a teacher,
[1:08:45] and I was teaching mostly immigrant families.
[1:08:51] And in my master's degree,
[1:08:53] I had to do a personal family history.
[1:08:56] My personal family history has to do with farming in Northeastern, Colorado, and when I went
[1:09:04] way back, and I did, this is in Morgan County, which is very close.
[1:09:09] When I went way back, one thing that I learned is that Latinos have been in this part of
[1:09:17] Colorado for far, far, far longer than most people realize.
[1:09:24] So if you look back into the census information in the 1800s, 1880s, 1890s,
[1:09:33] there's a lot of Latino farm labor.
[1:09:38] And I think people need to know that.
[1:09:41] And the other thing that I will say is that so I was interviewing my mother for this, as well.
[1:09:52] So my great, maybe one more great, grandparents immigrated from Scotland and homesteaded in Northeastern Colorado.
[1:10:00] And the stories she had to tell me, white families, multiple ethnicities, and, as you mentioned,
[1:10:09] Japanese families as well, because of internment camps and World War II, everything is really woven together.
[1:10:19] And I think that's something that people need to know is if you are forgetting about this part of our history,
[1:10:27] you're forgetting about part of our shared history.
[1:10:31] because my mom has told me stories about the migrant worker housing and more in Morgan County.
[1:10:43] And I have looked up historical documents for that because I was really curious about how it
[1:10:49] related to the families I was working with. So I really appreciate your presentation tonight.
[1:11:01] John White-Poseck. Is there plans to restore us by our house? I don't know if it would
[1:11:11] conflict with the long-time museum, but make it a place where you go to out to a school
[1:11:18] house and have somebody showing where it was like to be in a school house 1880.
[1:11:23] What I will say is that you're not the first to say that.
[1:11:27] And I think it's, I don't know how much we can say, I just say that I'm working with
[1:11:33] the state.
[1:11:34] And the first step in the process of starting a planning process, a master plan, is to do
[1:11:40] this archeological survey, and the state has reached out, and they said, we want to support
[1:11:44] this all the way to the end, no matter where it goes.
[1:11:47] And so there are definitely lots of different bits and pieces that need to come first.
[1:11:52] And, you know, it is, you know, county, county land, and so I don't know, you know, what the rules are.
[1:12:01] Well, thank you. Thank you for this. It's just, I've asked for a while about this big hole of Latina, Latino, knowledge in Northeastern County.
[1:12:13] the Eastern County and we have all sorts of stuff about trails and mountains and restored
[1:12:19] planary stuff and you guys make my heart happy. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll just
[1:12:27] that in answer to your query, Justin, Parks and Open Space, from my view from sort of a planning
[1:12:38] perspective, the foundational work that's happening right now will show up as we get into
[1:12:44] our district level planning and influence, you know, how we're talking about what we're
[1:12:51] prioritizing district by district. So as a bigger framework, that's where I see things
[1:12:57] starting to intersect to get at the kinds of questions that you're asking. So in other words,
[1:13:02] kind of more to come, and also like the foundation that's being like through the historic
[1:13:07] context, and just the work with community, we'll really launch us into something awesome,
[1:13:16] I think, when we get to Las Bracas in our district level planning, when we get to that area.
[1:13:25] Carol?
[1:13:25] Carol?
[1:13:25] Time for one more.
[1:13:26] You're certainly.
[1:13:27] I'm Carol Byley-Poseck.
[1:13:29] I'm a historian.
[1:13:30] And so this really warms my heart, and I'm remembering in the 1980s I used to take foreign visitors to Mount Vernon.
[1:13:39] And they used to talk about hard George Washington grew tobacco, George Washington grew corn, George Washington head cattle.
[1:13:47] And I was looking for where the slave quarters were, and they had servants quarters.
[1:13:51] And the docents were ladies of Mount Vernon.
[1:13:55] They were called the ladies of Mount Vernon.
[1:13:57] And there were three little rooms where the servants would be.
[1:14:02] And this was just completely wrong.
[1:14:05] And now there are, but now the movement,
[1:14:08] it's been 40 years.
[1:14:09] There's been a lot of history of what you've been to.
[1:14:12] What you're doing now, you are creating the documentation.
[1:14:16] And so they've gone back and they've created barracks
[1:14:20] And slave quarters, maybe you know about their project at Mount Vernon, and now there are tours of slave life on Mount Vernon, and that's not just architecture, that is changing the view of our founding fathers, and how the very nature of this country and who built it, and so, and so this has all kinds of layers, and it works my heart as well, so thank you.
[1:14:48] Trace Baker Post-Hack Liz with one quick quest.
[1:15:00] You use the phrase, Latinx, endangered landmark, is that a state or federal designation?
[1:15:08] So, it's a national designation, and it comes from, I'm going to message, Latinos in heritage preservation,
[1:15:15] in heritage conservation, which is a national organization that specifically is involved in trying to get more representation on the national register of Latino buildings.
[1:15:28] And the reason why, because less than 1% of buildings on the national preservation list, national register, are of people of color.
[1:15:37] Okay, thank you very much. Anything else from Postag?
[1:15:42] Okay.
[1:15:43] Oh, John, or Jeff? Sorry.
[1:15:45] Jeff, I just said one more sort of softball for you.
[1:15:50] What, what, what, when during the course of your research, what, what surprised you that you
[1:15:59] found about the history of Latina, labor, and Colorado, and Brown, they're counting?
[1:16:07] That they fed us that this is the community that fed Boulder County, and that that's a conversation
[1:16:12] that needs to be had.
[1:16:17] Okay, well thank all three of you very much for your presentation.
[1:16:20] Thank you.
[1:16:30] For a final talk this evening, we'll be an update on the Prairie Rono open space.
[1:17:17] Excuse me one second.
[1:17:19] Okay, great.
[1:17:21] Sorry.
[1:17:28] Hello.
[1:17:30] My name is Ovidabrod.
[1:17:31] I'm a project manager for a full accounting part of the space.
[1:17:34] I work in a project management design work group.
[1:17:38] And tonight, myself and my co-host, Chair Mary Olson,
[1:17:42] are going to present and update on the implementation of the East Boulder Creek Management Plan
[1:17:48] and the newly created Pre-Runneldom space and just a little status update where we're out with that.
[1:17:56] And then we'll take your questions at the end.
[1:18:02] Please hear a little bit.
[1:18:06] So, look at as an reduction.
[1:18:07] And it's fun to let you know that myself, Ovid, I'm Rotten and Mary Olson, are two of the
[1:18:14] leads on this project.
[1:18:15] And it's being completed by an interdisciplinary team at Parks and Oms face of multiple
[1:18:22] different work groups.
[1:18:25] And we are being assisted by icon engineering, which is a design team of multiple different
[1:18:33] consultants and they are helping us to implement the East Board of Creek Management Plan.
[1:18:41] And for just a little reference for folks, this slide is a little bit of orientation of where
[1:18:47] Prairie Run is. It is in sort of the Eastern County near County Line just kind of north and west
[1:18:55] of the town of Eerie, and the property has two different sections to it.
[1:19:03] We have it laid on the map, we have called the southwest section on the bottom left and the
[1:19:10] north east section up on the right, and Boulder Creek, the eastern flanks of Boulder Creek
[1:19:17] and the county run right through the heart of the project and the property, and what we're
[1:19:22] part prayer and open space.
[1:19:28] And so the kind of a little bit of a background, East Boulder
[1:19:31] Creek Management Plan was adopted by the Boulder County Commissioners in 2024. And the commissioners
[1:19:41] technically approved up to about $7.5 million to implement the management plan at Prairie Run
[1:19:50] and has a project management design work group and with with open space management we I've kind of broken the project or implementation of the management plan into four main design and construction projects, which will help us kind of retall the goals of the management plan we feel and we have a phase one and phase two projects.
[1:20:14] In first one, these projects are trail edge trails and parts amenities and also stream restoration projects for a man now will go into each of these different trail edge amenities for the southwest section, the northeast section and border creek and coal creek will give you a little bit more deep background on what each of those in tail.
[1:20:41] But this is a, is it been a project that has a lot of collaboration with the town of Eriks?
[1:20:46] We do, but up to the town of Eriam multiple locations.
[1:20:50] We've developed one intergovernment agreement with them.
[1:20:54] Around trail connections and where there's some work on another one that hopefully
[1:21:00] help us figure out how we connect into the town of Eriopen space to the future bird trail,
[1:21:06] which is a regional trail that's in development, multiple entities in the county, but I think
[1:21:13] the community planning and permitting department is leading that effort, so that's a future
[1:21:19] regional trail from Boulder to downtown Boulder to downtown area. Our goals are that we hope
[1:21:25] to complete this implementation in about seven years. You can start it in 2024 or so somewhere
[1:21:35] in 2013, 2013 one time frame and with that yeah I think Mary is going to get into a little
[1:21:44] bit more about the separate projects that we have going and I'll let her do that.
[1:21:53] Good evening post that Mary Olson landscape architect with parks. Let me know if you can hear
[1:21:59] me. I'll try to get this thing down to my level. So, okay? Okay. All right, I get to talk
[1:22:05] about construction, which is pretty fun. The first section that, over that I talked about,
[1:22:13] the Southwest section is under construction, and we started work out there last fall. This
[1:22:19] is a $1.8 million construction project pretty hefty. Last, and I hope to complete it within
[1:22:28] in the next couple months.
[1:22:30] I am both south of Highway 52 and like Obesab that stretches east. In this phase, only two under
[1:22:37] 19th Street, then in our second phase, we'll be closer to East County Line Road. So the yellow
[1:22:44] line is the trail that is fully constructed and then you can see some of our other priorities
[1:22:50] on the site. The purple polygons are wetlands or repairing zones that we are trying to take
[1:22:59] of enhanced and protect. There has been a lot of fencing installed as part of this construction
[1:23:05] project. We are managing public use with agricultural use so we have grazing on site and other
[1:23:14] agricultural production on site that we really want to respect and maintain and separate those uses
[1:23:21] and a lot of that fencing is also to protect some of that repair and habitat and what then
[1:23:29] Is that the, the, the, the dotted yellow line? Is that Fencing?
[1:23:34] Thank you. It's the orange line that's Fencing.
[1:23:37] The orange line is Fencing. It's not quite, quite, quite inclusive.
[1:23:40] Inclusive of everything that other, but yes, that's the main Fencing that we've installed.
[1:23:45] And then the very thing to yellow dotted line that had south is one of the options that we may consider to connect to bird in the future.
[1:23:57] And that, so termination, I think I covered everything that's pretty much on that map.
[1:24:06] Okay,
[1:24:11] so construction progress, like I said, the soft surface trail is constructed and ready to go.
[1:24:19] That's mostly recycled asphalt trail, a little bit of pressure finds once we get to the town of Eerie.
[1:24:24] The trailhead is complete.
[1:24:27] We have a new electric entry gate that will open and close with sunrise and sunset
[1:24:32] are hours of operation that the rangers, I think, are very excited about.
[1:24:38] Several benches on site.
[1:24:40] We do have a new creek access point, that's what those stairs are.
[1:24:43] They go down to the creek, just north of the trailhead, see a teeny tiny shade structure
[1:24:51] with a bench under it, because this tends to be a quite
[1:24:54] oppressively hot site with not a lot of shade or refuge.
[1:24:58] That's kind of a little bit closer to the ear side.
[1:25:03] A couple of pedestrian-aggreg crossing
[1:25:05] both one on one-on-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-one-team.
[1:25:09] That one has a flashing begin.
[1:25:11] You'll see in a minute.
[1:25:14] And then lots of culverts, some very large ones,
[1:25:16] that you'll see in some future pictures here,
[1:25:18] The remaining items, the big ticket item is the rest room, so we're about 90% through this contract.
[1:25:25] But the restroom has not been constructed yet.
[1:25:28] The vault has been installed, and we are ready to start that superstructure kind of starting at this week, so that's very exciting.
[1:25:35] And then once that's all buttoned up, we'll finish, re-vegetation, re-seeding, when the weather cooperates with us a little bit better.
[1:25:41] We hope, and install all the signed faces on the poster that have mostly already been installed.
[1:25:48] So I just have a few more construction pictures for you.
[1:25:53] There's some work you can see on the left there.
[1:25:55] We put in a 60 inch culvert through the Boulder and Weld ditch.
[1:26:01] I had to do some water diversion there.
[1:26:04] That was last fall.
[1:26:06] There's another branch that's actually in some shade.
[1:26:09] A lot of concrete work that happened that's on 119.
[1:26:12] it's a accessible ramp that links to that flashing beacon crossing and then finally a picture
[1:26:20] of that electric gate.
[1:26:26] There's the fancy flashing beacon, fifth-seeing key-tall, you can see next to that is the
[1:26:33] paving machine that the contractor uses to lay down the asphalt, our staff have done similar
[1:26:39] work in the past on different sites.
[1:26:41] The culvert, I think that's one of the smaller ones, I don't think that's a 60-inch.
[1:26:47] That's a 60-inch.
[1:26:49] And then finally, you can see the restroom bulbs that's been in for a couple of weeks now.
[1:26:58] So, expected outcomes with this construction, obviously the trail.
[1:27:01] The trail will be open to hiking, biking, equestrian use, and no dogs.
[1:27:09] major connection to the town of Eory, great open space access for folks in Eastern Boulder County,
[1:27:15] which was something that was really missing from our open space portfolios who were really
[1:27:19] excited to have. This is a start point, and then Northeast will continue that goal. Lots of
[1:27:28] protection of repairing habitat, all of that livestock, and I wrote fencing to continue support
[1:27:36] agricultural operations on sites.
[1:27:40] So that is where we're at.
[1:27:42] We're almost complete.
[1:27:44] And that will be over into the public by the end of the year.
[1:27:46] That is our goal.
[1:27:49] And then.
[1:27:50] Sorry.
[1:27:50] I have a quick question.
[1:27:51] Lauren.
[1:27:51] So do you, what's the agricultural use on those properties?
[1:27:55] Primarily live stock.
[1:27:56] Primarily.
[1:27:57] And some.
[1:27:59] There's some alpha being grown.
[1:28:02] I'm not sure what other operations in terms of.
[1:28:05] Yeah, Bob and I are brought in.
[1:28:07] It's mainly at Cropland, on the eastern half, east of the Bolero wild ditch, and then it's
[1:28:13] grazing on the western half, Cropland's mostly feed, it appears.
[1:28:20] But the same tenant for almost the whole properties, it's been great to collaborate with
[1:28:25] him and our Ag staff on all of that work.
[1:28:30] Okay, so sort of next steps, moving beyond the southwest section, is the design of the northeast,
[1:28:37] I'm going to say cluster and so the notion of the east section where we'll have a whole host of other amenities along with the Creek Restoration.
[1:28:47] So I'm going to talk about sort of the built environment and then ODI will talk about the Creek Restoration.
[1:28:52] So we just received 90% designs for this section.
[1:28:59] And this section is at the intersection of Penocia and East County Line Road, so North and
[1:29:05] East of the South West Cluster.
[1:29:11] We are hoping to wrap up that design by the end of the year as well, and then we'll move
[1:29:17] into permitting and then finding money to build it all the way by 2028 for 930.
[1:29:26] So this map in the bottom right of the slide, which I know is a bit hard to read and it's very busy, but all the big fat lines of the proposed trails.
[1:29:36] So trails around a lot of former gravel pits that are now ponds and then, of course, older creek runs through the north section of the property.
[1:29:46] And then you can see down at the right-hand corner that's the link back into eerie.
[1:29:52] So folks can go from here into the eerie trail system and then back to self-worth cluster.
[1:29:58] Ultimately, that'll be about five.
[1:30:00] There are some exciting things coming to this one. We have a nature exploration zone that is proposed to be
[1:30:08] right down by the creek. That's that second map at the bottom. It's fully accessible. It has a bunch of
[1:30:14] little exploration paths and little hoppable things for kids and adults to play on. We're very excited about that.
[1:30:25] education outreach staff is thrilled that this is something we can incorporate into our property.
[1:30:35] And then we'll have kind of our standard facilities. It'll be a large picnic shelter, a
[1:30:40] rest room, kiosk, parking lot, of course, and a fishing peer closer to the trail. The trail
[1:30:46] had the trail. It is down here by, you know, she wrote.
[1:30:55] All right. And then one, a couple other
[1:30:57] amenities that we're proposing. This is a design for a bird blind. That's up closer to the
[1:31:03] creek a little bit and a very small pond that will not have public use on it. This property
[1:31:10] has pretty special and unique and diverse bird habitat. We are really trying to protect that
[1:31:20] and educate users about that. So this space is going to be the center of that. There's also
[1:31:25] going to be a little bit further from here,
[1:31:27] there'll be a bird spotting scope.
[1:31:29] So folks can see the hernery that's out there
[1:31:32] and other, for the prey that are out there.
[1:31:37] So it is held very dear to the hearts of our wildlife staff.
[1:31:44] And this bird blind should be a, it's a very unique spot
[1:31:46] to see a lot of the action that happens on Kenosha,
[1:31:50] the main pond without, while giving space
[1:31:53] to that very unique habitat.
[1:31:59] I think I already mentioned the fishing pier.
[1:32:03] We have a lot of proposed access points both to Boulder Creek and to the Ponds.
[1:32:13] So we are are going to allow, if some of you remember from the Mansion Plan, we will allow
[1:32:17] pedal boarding and belly-boating, which is really exciting.
[1:32:22] It's not an opportunity we have at very many of our properties.
[1:32:28] Let's see.
[1:32:28] And then I guess the last thing I wanted to say is I think, as Obadiate touched upon,
[1:32:36] both all of these projects have included a lot of internal collaboration.
[1:32:41] We couldn't do this without all of our staff that has contributed to this project.
[1:32:46] field staff that are going to take care of a lot of this stuff or critical to the dialogues
[1:32:51] that we have and then just the unique opportunity this gives staff to educate the public
[1:32:57] and welcome the public in a sort of a new location for Boulder County Open Space.
[1:33:05] So I'll hand it back to Odaia for a quick restoration unless you have questions.
[1:33:09] I have a question.
[1:33:11] Okay.
[1:33:12] This is John Lye of Poseck.
[1:33:13] The Northeast Corp.
[1:33:15] The property is Col Creek.
[1:33:17] Are you going to connect trails to Col Creek Trail?
[1:33:20] Second.
[1:33:21] Second.
[1:33:21] I have to go down through.
[1:33:22] You have to go through.
[1:33:23] You're going to connect to the Col Creek Trail.
[1:33:25] Okay.
[1:33:27] Thank you.
[1:33:30] John, let's pose that.
[1:33:33] I was only way the bottom two.
[1:33:35] The four inches of the bird blind is open to bird view.
[1:33:39] is that to protect it from flooding somewhat or and also whether in the future the ponds,
[1:33:47] the hopper ponds could be something other than rectangular.
[1:33:52] Although I'm sure we don't have
[1:33:53] the money. Oh, but I brought in, I couldn't help answer those. So yes, so the burblind and the majority
[1:34:02] of this property and infrastructure we're going to put in it are within the Boulder Creek flood
[1:34:07] way. For not even the floodplain but the floodway and so we've worked extensively with our
[1:34:13] community planning and permit and staff and the floodplain program coordinator for the county
[1:34:18] to determine what can and can't go in in the floodway. The original management plan
[1:34:24] talked about a picnics shelter right out by the creek but that's not safe or a good idea
[1:34:31] I mean, I don't want you need a floodpand regulations as it's a shelter with a roof and we can't be sheltering people in a floodway.
[1:34:40] So the, so the bear blind is more like a fence that doesn't have a roof.
[1:34:46] Most people probably use to bear blinds that, you know, you're fully hidden and you're just looking through a little crack.
[1:34:52] This one's going to be something different and we did a little research with our, our origin education style and our landscape architects that we've hired and Mary
[1:35:00] And our building staff and this is going to be open on the bottom.
[1:35:05] So a bit more open in the middle and have that upper area.
[1:35:09] So flood waters can pass through the bottom of it.
[1:35:12] If they come up and it's not really a shelter where you're taking refuge, I guess,
[1:35:17] so it's allowable in a flood way.
[1:35:20] And so yeah, I think that answers that question.
[1:35:22] And then what was it to say?
[1:35:24] Well, you know, with the rectangular shape of the ponds
[1:35:28] and whether, you know, in the future there could be some
[1:35:31] grading so that it wouldn't be just like, you know, cut down like a
[1:35:36] tape. We all hope it's so that that be a variety of my
[1:35:39] plans and into it. Yeah, sorry. We looked into it and number
[1:35:46] things won't mean the water where it's laws and Colorado or
[1:35:51] kind of the main, but just for not doing that. Right now, they're
[1:35:54] just abandoned gravel ponds and they don't really have any
[1:35:57] descriptive water rights to them and we've been informed by, you know, by the water
[1:36:04] rights attorneys and our water rights staff or water staff that, you know, expanding that
[1:36:09] footprint or changing it could potentially open the county up for just inquiries or even
[1:36:16] lawsuits, potentially from downstream water rights owners and users that we've maybe impacted
[1:36:23] there water rights by changing the surface area of those pond where they may have smaller or
[1:36:28] made them bigger. So we could do that, but it would open up potentially canterworms. It might not
[1:36:34] even be a problem, but it was decided by the older actor Trees Glocky to not foresee that at this time.
[1:36:41] What if you didn't change the surface area on the sauna, but you just changed the configuration
[1:36:49] even, yeah, that, again, it kind of just opens up potential for more inquiries in the future
[1:36:55] and, you know, had a cost of accounting potentially so right now we're going to go with it as they are, but there are,
[1:37:02] and there's a lot of staff that's interested in potentially changing the configurations, opening some of those walls,
[1:37:08] maybe doing more wildlife habitat improvements in there and things like that, because they're,
[1:37:13] some of the sterile shape right now. I mean, they're kind of bathtubs.
[1:37:17] We are and we already have started planting around the pond, so perhaps that will...
[1:37:22] Good. So often they're in a little bit, but yeah, that's something that we...
[1:37:30] This plan, but staff has already started to do and will continue doing to do prior to implementation.
[1:37:36] Thank you.
[1:37:37] Lord?
[1:37:37] I just have a quick question. I'm Lauren Kelso. I'm curious about the electric gate thing. Is that a new thing?
[1:37:44] And really, I'm curious that if you park in there and you get stuck, you'll be able to get out.
[1:37:49] You'll be able to get out.
[1:37:49] You'll be able to get out.
[1:37:49] You'll be able to get out. You'll be able to get out.
[1:37:50] You'll be able to get out. You'll be able to get out.
[1:37:50] You'll be able to get out. You'll be able to get out.
[1:37:53] Not that I would, after hours.
[1:37:58] Yeah, so Trace Baker Post Act and it's the power fails.
[1:38:03] Well, we get to call our candidate and he rangers.
[1:38:06] Exactly.
[1:38:07] We'll have that phone number right on the gates.
[1:38:11] That is the plan.
[1:38:14] Thank you.
[1:38:15] But yes, it is a new, this is a test pilot, so we'll see how it goes.
[1:38:21] Christine Johnson Post Act, I am appreciating the update and
[1:38:29] recalling some of the agonizing things that we
[1:38:33] agonized over and I'm looking at you, Carol, like I'm happy that
[1:38:38] there's not going to be dogs there and I'm happy that you are talking to us
[1:38:46] about benches and shade because those are the things that came up and I'm
[1:38:53] that you're talking about protection of riparian habitat. And I did wonder, is the bird
[1:39:02] blind? I suppose the answer is going to be yes. Is that going to provide sufficient
[1:39:07] buffering between the birds and the people? Because the distances were a critical issue in the
[1:39:24] So if you can, I remember all those circles, but not perfectly.
[1:39:30] Yes. So it is, it was, um, our wildlife staff is comfortable with it. I'll say that.
[1:39:38] They had a lot of input on it. And there's a teeny, tiny pond that sort of separates the
[1:39:44] birdblind area, then the pond, then the connocia habitat. So they really felt that that distance
[1:39:51] was adequate. Can you indicate on that map where the blind is? Do you see my marker right there
[1:39:59] by the North Pond? Yeah, and it's to look at, looking into the North Pond, so it would
[1:40:04] be facing to the South East Pond, surrounded by trees, and between the North Pond and the
[1:40:13] Kenosha Pond, which is a big one. I was thinking on the other, it's on the other side of
[1:40:21] There's also that there were the rookery.
[1:40:23] Yeah, so that's where the rookery is.
[1:40:25] And then Obadiya can point to where we will have the birdings
[1:40:27] spotting scope, and that is quite a ways away from anything
[1:40:33] on the north side of the creek.
[1:40:34] My person is where the spotting scope is, and it's mainly
[1:40:37] oriented to the northeast to look at the rookery.
[1:40:40] And you're the great view of it right where it's going to go.
[1:40:42] And you're still here?
[1:40:44] There's still there.
[1:40:45] Yeah, yeah.
[1:40:45] Well, while you're doing the construction.
[1:40:48] I also hope they're still laying out after, that's the plan.
[1:40:53] And just, we had, for folks who were new to post-ac, we had a whole, did we have two
[1:41:00] site visits there, and it was quite involved in those ponds, the question about the ponds,
[1:41:10] we asked about the ponds, the last thing that I will say is I really, really appreciate
[1:41:16] the effort towards accessibility to be trying to include all members of our community in their
[1:41:25] access to open space.
[1:41:29] Sorry, thank you.
[1:41:30] Thank you.
[1:41:31] Any more questions, comments from Post-Hack?
[1:41:36] Well, I'm really looking forward to the completion of this, and I'm so happy that East County
[1:41:40] also get some decent sized open space, and I can't wait to write my back out there.
[1:41:48] Let me do.
[1:41:49] I know what I saw as more things, right?
[1:41:51] Yep, a little bit more to go if you want to.
[1:41:53] Okay, sorry.
[1:41:54] Oh, means.
[1:41:54] Yeah, yeah.
[1:41:56] So as Mary said, all right, but who would one of us set it, but this we have four different
[1:42:01] projects that we've ever developed being to kind of come this whole implementation of the
[1:42:10] projects. And so I'll speak a little bit about those. I'm going to have to answer any questions
[1:42:15] afterwards as well. So Boulder Creek is our first stream that we're doing some stream
[1:42:22] restoration. And it's pretty interesting if the bottom map here, Mary pointed out all the trails
[1:42:30] and everything around the lake and those bonds and the infrastructure. But a long board of
[1:42:36] If you can kind of, we are going to do some restoration along here to complete kind of,
[1:42:43] it's going to be, we're going to go ahead and kind of hand in hand.
[1:42:50] Some of the work will restore and size Boulder Creek in this area.
[1:42:56] And all of the hopes to minimize excessive erosion and allow for episodic erosion to
[1:43:02] channel complexity and more habitat development in the area. This also allows to increase
[1:43:08] fun playing connection during frequent STEM of storm events.
[1:43:14] And this work will also protect
[1:43:16] the future trail and recreational amenities that we're developing in the area. And it'll also
[1:43:22] we're tying in, as Mary mentioned, a couple more creek access points. So all in all have three
[1:43:27] designated areas to access the creek right now. The banks are extremely vertical in place.
[1:43:33] and we'll save some of that because that is good habitat for a lot of different bird species
[1:43:39] and other types of animals, but we're also providing access points for to get down the
[1:43:47] creek with steps and little access trails, designated two of them to the east of the main nature
[1:43:54] discovery zone which will have the accessible access. These plans are in design phase right now.
[1:44:00] We later next month, we expect to get the 90% designs and help to finish design by the end of
[1:44:07] 2026 and commence permitting at 2027 in conjunction with the permitting for the Northeast
[1:44:16] cluster amenities.
[1:44:18] We have about a year or so of permitting to do on those from Float Plane permitting with FEMA to
[1:44:27] sort of like Army Corps engineer permitting while life endangered species, Chippo, historic
[1:44:33] preservation, stuff like that. So we've got about a year worth of permitting and we do hope
[1:44:38] to regore it now. It's just to maybe start construction in 2028 but that kind of depends on
[1:44:46] funding funding and permitting and funding we are looking into grant funding and we have staff
[1:44:57] go-co, or fly for some go-co grants.
[1:45:00] Some grants. We are also in this area talking about collaboration with the Mahai flood district who funds a lot of
[1:45:10] stream improvement projects. So there are a partner just down upstream of this on the how ditch project. You may have heard of that project before.
[1:45:19] It's not constructed yet, but there's a potential and we're working to collaborate with them. And that would be a memorandum of understanding and idea to do that.
[1:45:29] So moving forward on that, that's our kind of our schedule.
[1:45:37] I guess it touched on some of this.
[1:45:39] The project hopes to provide sustainable pre-design,
[1:45:43] preserve the high quality habitat we do have,
[1:45:45] and increase aquatic habitat and activity along this reach of pre-creak.
[1:45:52] Next, I'll talk about the coal creek, which I look better maps.
[1:45:58] Cole Creek's administration is another design project, and it's currently in design and we're about at a 60% design level.
[1:46:07] Coming again in the middle of the early September with the hopes of completing the final design that after the beginning of the year, maybe in February of 2027.
[1:46:16] And this is a little bit longer lead item projects.
[1:46:20] It's not tied into the infrastructure and the new trail ahead and trails.
[1:46:26] So we end with them we need funding for this as well.
[1:46:28] So we're looking at permitting in 27 and 28 and possibly funding.
[1:46:33] Possibly construction as soon as 2029, but it's a big ask.
[1:46:38] So we've got goals, we're ambitious, we'll see where we can get some of that stuff.
[1:46:42] I mean, Cole Creek, if you can see on my map, it's a fairly, it's a turner and a little
[1:46:51] funky.
[1:46:51] That's not north.
[1:46:53] Yeah, it's not right.
[1:46:54] So the bot that big road right there, that's county line road, you know, Boulder Creek
[1:47:00] coming in.
[1:47:02] So right behind that all that word, and verbiage is where the trail had, and everything
[1:47:06] where there's point now, it's going to be, so that's Boulder Creek down to the confluence
[1:47:10] of Coal Creek and Boulder Creek and then on the far left is Kenosha Road so we're talking
[1:47:18] some stream restoration and not whole stretch from Kenosha Road which is beginning to
[1:47:22] counting on space to the confluence with Boulder Creek. Again this would be to restore deep
[1:47:31] land size and highly erotable Creek Coal Creek is very highly erotable. See some of these
[1:47:36] cut bank photos here, where hope is to do a little more flip-length and activity again.
[1:47:44] And, sorry, Obeday, Lauren Kelso, before you could move off of that side, what causes
[1:47:49] that kind of, why does it, what causes that, what do you do to address it, what do you
[1:47:55] do to address it?
[1:47:56] That's very question.
[1:47:57] So, number factors,
[1:48:02] this is probably mostly caused by high rates of water and over the years
[1:48:11] the creek has been channelized in a sense by the uses around it.
[1:48:16] We have agricultural fields that cut right up to the edge of it on one side.
[1:48:20] We had gravel mining historically on the west side, like Kenosha pond, so we developed
[1:48:27] all that they, you know, the developers pushed in the creek, channelized it, they did the same
[1:48:34] with Boulder Creek. So they've kind of, you know, so I've had in that natural swing
[1:48:39] loss that you see in a lot of the plains, creeks that are flowing left and right over
[1:48:45] large areas, these this creek has been channelized. So let me do get big rain events. It
[1:48:51] not be where to go but kind of down. So our hope is we can and it's a design is going to be
[1:49:01] able to say where we have a section like this, not picture right there. We may be raising up the
[1:49:09] channel beds over the length of the whole river while actually raising the channel up a couple of
[1:49:14] feet by taking sediment off, say some of these banks, or we'll be benching the outside and opening
[1:49:21] up more bench on the inside. So when the creek does flow at higher rates, it has a place to
[1:49:27] spread out and not just in size and continue to go deeper. And in this area it's hard to see where
[1:49:34] there's some big octopus that have pushed into that agricultural field at the county owns and
[1:49:39] leases to folks and some of that field is falling in the
[1:49:43] creek at a rate of like a foot of year in places.
[1:49:47] So our goal is to slow down or hopefully stop that erosion in some of these places.
[1:49:57] John Lutz-Poseric and isn't part of the problem that there's been development around this area
[1:50:03] and that means more hard-paving more roads, more driveways, more hard rooftops,
[1:50:08] And it comes off all of a sudden, and so it's more likely to incise itself to dig a deep
[1:50:16] channel, whereas historically it would soak into the ground and slowly slowly flow down
[1:50:25] the streams.
[1:50:28] So, I guess, you know, things like retention and detention and, you know, storm gardens
[1:50:33] and so on are all helpful things to slow that process down.
[1:50:39] For sure.
[1:50:40] And this is downstream of the town of Erie and there's been quite a bit of development
[1:50:46] last 30 years in the town of Erie.
[1:50:49] So, yep, and there are the upstream of our project town of Erie's working on a
[1:50:53] really big flood control and water conveyance project that they hope to kick off
[1:50:58] the next couple of years.
[1:50:59] So, we're kind of tying into the end of that.
[1:51:01] So hopefully the coal preclaw have a lot more room to move, even with all the urbanization.
[1:51:07] That's occurring on the eastern flank of the county.
[1:51:10] It's a great point to
[1:51:16] me.
[1:51:16] Any other questions on that last slide?
[1:51:19] These are just a couple of different photos of the one on the top right is, you can actually
[1:51:25] this is named in Herial of Coal Creek, currently.
[1:51:28] That big oxpo I was talking about in the high field is right here, and this is basically
[1:51:36] off like our Google imagery for the county that shows one point that was the map corridor
[1:51:42] of the creek is the blue line, you can just see in the last number of years how it's migrated
[1:51:48] to the right in some places, and it's moving, you know, it's not going to look for
[1:51:57] the right. And then I'll order one of some of the tiny techniques that we could use that will
[1:52:01] be constructed, you know, ripple pests in the creek, that can be somewhat armored to
[1:52:09] help protect the work that we do, but then provide like fish passage and habitat.
[1:52:30] And then this is just a picture from another similar project we've worked on before, where those are, um, that's actually a bank stabilization by engineering technique, um, where there's those are, those are called soil lifts, and that plan of a native plants, and typically have some sort of rock argument underneath them to help protect the bank, but then have vegetation, and I'm that will provide more habitat, natural components of the tree.
[1:52:58] And that's about it, you know, just saying this boulder, you know, east boulder creek management plan and prayer and open space, you know, the, the, the plan came out with six major goals and, you know, our teams are working hard to, we think that the plan that we have will basically encapsulate all six of these goals.
[1:53:17] I'm going to put them out there for you if you're interested in
[1:53:22] having any questions about that.
[1:53:24] We can definitely answer those right now.
[1:53:27] I'll be here as long as you want.
[1:53:32] Jason needs to speak, so we won't be here all night long.
[1:53:35] Got to guess that question.
[1:53:36] Anything more for post-ac.
[1:53:39] Thank you.
[1:53:40] Okay.
[1:53:41] Obedaya and Mary, thank you very much.
[1:53:43] Thank you.
[1:53:45] Next item on the next topic on the agenda is
[1:53:53] about topics that were not on the agenda tonight, and we have a few and remind everybody that we'd like to hear from Jason before eight o'clock.
[1:54:05] So, Joan.
[1:54:06] Joan, let's pose, and I guess in comments on the Tucker property, I walked out there last week and I was pretty shocked to see all the unauthorized trails,
[1:54:15] including many that were paralleling other unauthorized trails, and it was hard to figure out
[1:54:22] where the trail was because there were so many trails.
[1:54:27] But besides the orchids mentioned in the August 18th memo,
[1:54:31] I saw two other species in the forest,
[1:54:34] good year of Longopolia, and also the Clustered Lady Slipper orchid,
[1:54:40] and it's got a really cool flower,
[1:54:43] And it is at least rare or at least unusual.
[1:54:49] It was on a steep slope with rich soil and easily eroded
[1:54:54] as so much of the area is.
[1:54:57] And someone had built a site trail right next to the two orchids
[1:55:02] undermining the rich soil that was supporting the orchids.
[1:55:07] So, I'm glad that the commissioners voted to close almost all trails
[1:55:13] temporarily while district planning is occurring before more damage occurs to the ecosystems and that there was talk about closing the trail from March to November and also putting in clear signage and other visible measures such as logs placed across the unauthorized trail network.
[1:55:40] Understanding, of course, if this would require more money for more range or patrolling as well as signage and work to close other unauthorized trails.
[1:55:50] Perhaps county lead warriors or wildlands, restoration volunteers could help with trail closure work.
[1:55:56] I once worked with WRB, and they were working with a mountain by group to close unauthorized
[1:56:05] trails in a different natural area, so that's another possibility.
[1:56:13] And also regarding design, you know, when you have people just making their own unauthorized
[1:56:18] trail, they're not following design standards.
[1:56:22] So, honestly, with the exception of the wide road base, these trails are really not suitable for multi-use.
[1:56:32] There are steven twisty in the forested area, and not built to standard.
[1:56:37] And there's often little like distance.
[1:56:39] So, at different times, I had six different bikers pass me all at high speed, because they're going down downhill.
[1:56:46] They're going west to east.
[1:56:48] And I had a jump into the forest each time to avoid being hit.
[1:56:55] So ultimately, because they couldn't see me, you know, I had to listen for them.
[1:57:01] So ultimately, a trail built to standards for slopes and sight distances,
[1:57:07] and turning the radio would be great if it's decided there should be a permanent trail at the Tucker facility.
[1:57:16] John White-Poseck.
[1:57:21] The county commissioners' presentation surprised me about the Tucker property is that our
[1:57:31] bylaws, the Poseck, provides a forum for public input regarding land acquisition
[1:57:37] dispositions for management plans and policies.
[1:57:41] I was really surprised that Jason and the county commissioners went out there and looked around
[1:57:50] that are talking about management plans. Why wasn't post-ack and included in any of this?
[1:57:59] We could have gone along. We could have gotten some. When you listen to commissioners'
[1:58:06] Stalsman, she'd been talking to bike mountain bikers who are talking about they'd
[1:58:12] love to help to sign the right type of path and close off, help close off the volunteers
[1:58:21] with them.
[1:58:23] I'm not surprised, you're right.
[1:58:24] I'm not surprised, you're right.
[1:58:26] This just seems to be something that should have gone through pose act first, instead
[1:58:32] of directly to the county commissioners.
[1:58:34] And is Pozac being sideline?
[1:58:40] Yes, that's towards Jason.
[1:58:47] Perhaps Jason can address that during the director's update.
[1:58:52] Well, I would, Carol, by early Pozac.
[1:58:55] I would just, I would support what John was saying,
[1:58:59] and I think it has to do with the multi-use issue as well.
[1:59:03] And that's two issues this year.
[1:59:05] And I did, I'm going to go back to Natalie's memo because I compared the two versions that she wrote and she,
[1:59:14] we are, we are advisory on open space land acquisitions and then she added and dispositions.
[1:59:23] And so, disposition, I think speaks to these two issues, and I think it also speaks to our pivoting from purchasing someone's land to stewardship over the land.
[1:59:36] And that puts Posec in a position to really help consider how do we protect what we have.
[1:59:43] And so I would say those two issues would come under the and dispositions responsibilities that Posec has.
[2:00:00] Here, hearing as well, and was, and I think, well, why didn't we get to go there and see what the problem is, because it's a big problem. And the commissioners don't know what to do. I mean, who knows what to do. So, we should be able to help, or at least absorb some of the stress. Thank you.
[2:00:20] Thank you, Carol.
[2:00:21] Anybody else pose a Christine?
[2:00:23] Christine Johnson, pose a.
[2:00:25] I wanted to note that Dr. Tim Seastett and Dr. Robert
[2:00:30] Brackenrich had a review paper published June 4th,
[2:00:35] 2026, issue of restoration ecology, a period-reviewed journal,
[2:00:42] and it was looking at all the available research
[2:00:47] on cheat graphs and in dazzleflam in the Colorado front range, there's over 70 citations
[2:00:55] for the paper, so I think it's pretty comprehensive.
[2:01:00] A few findings from that, one thing that they were looking at was toxicity of in dazzleflam
[2:01:11] and its degradation and their mutagenicity, which was discussed in there, they also address
[2:01:23] chief grass and contribution to extreme wildfire, which they didn't find a link in Colorado.
[2:01:31] And I just I think it's and they also addressed conflicts of interest in existing research.
[2:01:40] So, good stuff to have out there and to have all that research collected in one place to just go through.
[2:01:53] And I just wanted to say, I really appreciate all of you on Posec, especially tonight.
[2:02:01] Thank you.
[2:02:03] Any other questions or comments from Posec?
[2:02:07] Okay, thank you, so let's move on to the director's update, Jason Suk.
[2:02:36] Hi, good evening, Jason Suk.
[2:02:38] Director of Parks and Open Space.
[2:02:40] I just want to thank everybody for tonight, the conversation.
[2:02:43] I think the insight and discussion on, you know, the role of Post Act, the, you know,
[2:02:51] how we communicate with the public, the importance of open space and the work that our team does,
[2:02:57] as well as, you know, the rest of the one county government is, you know, fascinating and kind of at the center of what we're trying to do in local government. So I appreciate that open dialogue. I appreciate your perspective and what you're doing.
[2:03:14] Let's see, I think there's a lot going on. This is an exciting time. We're kind of wrapping up, you know, that summer season, although it's like 100 degrees every single day. So I don't know about that.
[2:03:25] but I really enjoyed, I think last week we had our seasonal picnic
[2:03:29] to say thank you for the, you know, I guess over 100 seasonal workers
[2:03:34] that we have, many of the continued working,
[2:03:37] but you know, just out there doing a lot of work, you know,
[2:03:40] while they can, on, on everything from museums and trails
[2:03:44] and the sort yard to, you know, conservation easements.
[2:03:49] I mean, just everything we do, we have seasonals
[2:03:51] and they're, you know, about half our workforce
[2:03:53] and doing incredible things.
[2:03:58] We also were quite lucky to have the work, the Youth Corps, also wrap up, an amazing
[2:04:07] season.
[2:04:08] We had 12 teams, five from Parks and Open Space, five different municipalities, sponsored
[2:04:14] teams, two down profits, and that was a total of over 100 core members, 27 team leads
[2:04:22] and staff, and together, you know, it was over 19,000 hours of work time, over 3,000 feet
[2:04:28] of fence bill, 13,000 feet of fence road are repaired, 1,700 trees maintained, 100 rolling
[2:04:37] dips and trails built, and that's just a few of the things, a lot, and I think probably most
[2:04:43] important was, you know, just kind of seeing youth and leadership in action, you know, what I
[2:04:49] hope is maybe, maybe too sappy, but providing, you know, instaling, you know, this, this spirit
[2:04:56] of public service and really cool to see just talented people working hard and learning
[2:05:02] a lot and doing it in service of their community in a pretty cool place.
[2:05:07] We also had the fair, Boulder County Fair, my goodness.
[2:05:11] We're still doing the numbers, but it definitely was over a hundred thousand visitors, demolition
[2:05:17] There will be carnivals, rodeos, 4-H, just incredible time.
[2:05:25] So much work goes into it from all the partners that we have at the Fairboard as well
[2:05:31] as well as a lot of staff time and effort that kind of all focuses on that one event over
[2:05:37] the week.
[2:05:38] So that's pretty great and we're pleased to have another piece that I wanted to touch on.
[2:05:45] It was the August 4th, Janna Peterson presented to the Board of kind of commissioners on budget
[2:05:56] reduction recommendations, a piece of that is as things that we've been considering in
[2:06:02] the general fund to try to address the structural deficit, many of that touching programs
[2:06:08] and even people that were integral to parks an open space.
[2:06:15] But we think we have a path forward to try to recommend
[2:06:19] and put forward pieces that can help address that deficit
[2:06:24] and retain as much of the critical services
[2:06:28] as we can provide.
[2:06:30] And continuing moving forward on a fiscal,
[2:06:33] sustainable path, but I did want to mention that. Tucker, you know, John, I agree completely
[2:06:43] with your assessment and I really appreciate the way that you put it. And, you know, the
[2:06:49] orchids and the many other species, there's so much that's out there, it's a real jewel. And,
[2:06:56] you know, from the wildlife values to kind of a lot of historical values as well as, obviously,
[2:07:00] recreation it's an interesting one to try to balance and so yes we had a
[2:07:06] work session I guess about a week and a half ago where we discussed and brought
[2:07:13] forward at the commissioners request a plan to recommend a solution to try to
[2:07:20] feedback and have that discussion.
[2:07:30] And so, this is where, you know, we are really focused kind of the backdrop to this is this district planning model that we've talked about a few times here, and specifically the first section of that, which is going to be what we're calling peak to peak, it's kind of that southwest chunk of Boulder County, including Netherlands and other areas nearby, where we're going to try to wrap up a lot of management actions into one, think about things which I'm really excited about at a landscape level.
[2:07:59] So we can think about things like connectivity, you know, how do we balance these different
[2:08:04] right values, from resource values, to recreation values, to, you know, you know, specific
[2:08:09] species in wildlife and all the other things that we're taking into account the less
[2:08:14] agriculture there.
[2:08:15] But that's a, you know, a piece of cultural preservation, many things, and thinking about
[2:08:19] it in a big picture so that we don't have to have, you know, each parcel, you know, balancing
[2:08:27] everything. How can we do that at a broader scale? And so we're really focused on that. We're excited. I think in a number of days for, you know, I think even the RFP will go out for consultants for that.
[2:08:41] We're moving forward on that process and looking for it's going to be a long and complicated one. And it's one that we're really excited to, you know,
[2:08:56] focus on your expertise, on your connection to community, and in your good perspective, how do
[2:09:04] we think about this really important management plan moving forward?
[2:09:08] So Tucker, I guess the way we're thinking about that from a legal perspective from an operational
[2:09:16] perspective is what we're asking the commissioners to do is temporarily designate a trail,
[2:09:21] which they are authorized to do.
[2:09:24] Are they only ones I think they can do that?
[2:09:27] I have the authority to be able to close pieces.
[2:09:30] I took that authority when we had a goss hawk nest
[2:09:34] that we identified at the Western Southwestern bit
[2:09:38] of that property complex.
[2:09:40] And we close that to protect that species.
[2:09:43] So those authorities, I have trail designation
[2:09:46] is one that the Board of County Commissioners have.
[2:09:48] The management plan in pieces, moving forward,
[2:09:51] And that's the really complicated part, and the piece that we, you know, are excited to move forward on and deeply involve all of you.
[2:10:01] And the common regarding disposition, I think, disposition is actually generally the conveyance of a real property interest.
[2:10:11] So, I think trying to, yeah, I guess this is more of a legal question, but a little less
[2:10:19] on the closure of trails, that's something that I can do, and in my authority, I can
[2:10:23] close trails, I can close pieces of open space for public safety, for natural resource protection,
[2:10:30] a few other reasons.
[2:10:33] We're soon taking that action on metal, large single tree area.
[2:10:37] There's cattle there, and there's a couple months, but that provides a risk, that's an action that I'm able to take.
[2:10:45] It's not a property disposition, so just wanted to make that clarification.
[2:10:48] We get more better legal language if we need it, but that's the difference there.
[2:10:53] And then back to a few things in our world that I wanted to touch on agriculture.
[2:11:04] There's a lot going on there.
[2:11:07] We've got drought response. We've got water management issues. There's daily tasks that our
[2:11:12] water and ditch teams are dealing with. They've done just a tremendous job working on what's
[2:11:19] a challenging situation. We talked about that last month. That work continues. The piece
[2:11:24] that we didn't dive in too much and are all the actions that they take every day. Just thinking
[2:11:29] about, hey, how do we better manage water? How do we better service the tenants and
[2:11:34] these holders that we have, how do we think, picture today and then moving forward on what's
[2:11:39] going to be continued water issues when we think about climate change and the overall uses.
[2:11:47] And so it's big.
[2:11:49] It's on our mind.
[2:11:50] The fact that ditch water, in some cases, has gone already and in others, we've got maybe
[2:11:55] a couple days left and so it's a big factor in something that we continue to work with
[2:12:02] with, you know, the different commissions with ditch boards and in our tenants.
[2:12:11] We, just today, I actually signed and closed the swag property.
[2:12:17] So that is, some of that's been process I think for 20 years.
[2:12:21] And, you know, a great piece of property from an agricultural hand actually, I think,
[2:12:27] a wildlife and natural resource perspective, as well.
[2:12:32] Yeah,
[2:12:35] the shout to our rangers, just again to notice them.
[2:12:38] They're taking calls on emergencies throughout the county.
[2:12:41] These days, the heat-related emergencies are huge.
[2:12:44] Small fires are happening that we're helping respond to.
[2:12:47] And a very active bear season.
[2:12:49] There have been bears and tents, bears and cars.
[2:12:55] Yeah, difficult.
[2:12:55] difficult and I won't even go into snakes that's something I'm attached to. We had the national
[2:13:02] night out so hundreds of community members we were interacting with in different events in
[2:13:08] NYWAD and Superior Alliance on Lasero many of the places, more as Rangers, you know, talks,
[2:13:16] you know we're blessed to have that connection to the community and to be able to, you know,
[2:13:20] talk and exchange there.
[2:13:24] Yeah, the plan of college team has been doing a ton of work.
[2:13:28] I won't go into details, but on their important piece, and I think we've got a presentation
[2:13:32] Tito for you there soon.
[2:13:36] Wildlife, elk management is a big one.
[2:13:38] We started to prepare and coordinate the red hill, red hill, elk hunt, access for the
[2:13:43] 2026 season, including hunter scheduling and property access controls, we're leading design
[2:13:49] and compliance work for major fish passage reconstruction projects.
[2:13:52] We'll be talked about a little bit a little bit of that here,
[2:13:55] but we've got a lot there going on.
[2:13:57] On AVN program, we've got raptor data system upgrades,
[2:14:01] improving nesting season closures and GIS integration
[2:14:04] for raptor monitoring.
[2:14:06] I think due to schedules, I think we're going to come
[2:14:08] and talk to you in depth about raptors,
[2:14:10] I think, perhaps a October.
[2:14:13] Education, I was able to go to the,
[2:14:16] on Tanya Kuma Familia event at Calwood, a month ago as a highest turnout ever, it's a fantastic
[2:14:22] event that brings out Spanish-speaking Boulder County community members, it's multi-agency, many
[2:14:28] NGOs are involved and Calwood just does a fantastic job reaching out to our Latina community
[2:14:34] and it's a great event that can provide additional access to the outdoors and again it's
[2:14:41] that love them outdoors with our entire community. And then we've also been doing a weekend
[2:14:48] trail head pop-ups with an emphasis on sharing the trail and don't spark a disaster messaging.
[2:15:00] We're talking about, let's not start fires and let's think about how we share the trail in a way that is not the incidents that you're speaking of, but rather being conscientious from all users.
[2:15:13] And then also we partnered with our CSU Extension staff to hold a land management for climate and drought preparedness workshop at the AG Heritage Center.
[2:15:24] You know, it's a great team with extension and they do a lot not just on agricultural practices, but on water management as well.
[2:15:36] Yeah, we've got a lot of trail repairs, I don't know if anyone's been to in you lightly, but it's great.
[2:15:41] They've done a tremendous job with continuing step in retaining wall repairs.
[2:15:47] And we've been able to install a lot of new signs and bilingual signs that are pretty much all across the county.
[2:15:56] Now, we've done a tremendous job in that element of communication and happy with that.
[2:16:02] And then looking forward, we've got, we've got Costa coming up in early October, good question.
[2:16:10] Thank you, Carol, for the reminder.
[2:16:13] We'd love to extend an invitation to you while we can coordinate on who might be available.
[2:16:18] And we'd be happy to try to make that happen from our size in terms of subsidy or support for that.
[2:16:26] So we can circle back on that and, you know, who's interested and who's available and try to coordinate
[2:16:33] Co. So which is a three day
[2:16:36] Colorado open space
[2:16:37] Association conference for open space with different agencies and entities around around the state
[2:16:49] Yeah, I think I'll stop there for now and
[2:16:54] Again, I just wanted to say thanks to our staff for great presentations today
[2:16:58] We're also brainstorming on good field trips.
[2:17:01] We take your recommendations too.
[2:17:03] We need to get out there and see a few things in, you know, out in the field.
[2:17:08] And we look forward to engaging there.
[2:17:13] Thanks so much.
[2:17:14] Thank you, Jason.
[2:17:15] Any questions?
[2:17:16] Oh, John.
[2:17:18] Thank you for the comment.
[2:17:19] I've had a field trips.
[2:17:22] This is John and he's also with the record team.
[2:17:24] If he could please speak out directly to the microphone.
[2:17:26] We appreciate it.
[2:17:28] You think I'd go by now?
[2:17:29] John White-Poseck. Thank you for your comment about the field trips. It's not just a perk.
[2:17:38] It's something you find out amazing things that you're the part I'm just doing.
[2:17:45] Plaining, we stored wood for building things. Things that we would never know about, but it's really valuable for it.
[2:17:54] but you didn't answer the question about how come we didn't get fight into the tougher property.
[2:18:02] So what is trying to communicate is it's not a management plan that we're designing.
[2:18:06] The management plan is the peak to peak.
[2:18:08] So this was a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners to designate.
[2:18:13] We'll call it temporarily just until the management plan is up.
[2:18:17] to designated trails so that we can direct use, hopefully direct use on any area, that would
[2:18:28] be acceptable to us.
[2:18:29] It's temporary.
[2:18:29] It's not going to have appropriate or it's not going to be the same level of trail that we
[2:18:37] would see in the future once the management plan is approved, but we want to direct that
[2:18:42] so that we can, you know, better channel folks there, understand, you know, the recreation
[2:18:48] desire and use and then protect the wildlife that's there. So currently the property upon acquisition
[2:18:55] was open. Disney does this open kind of during that COVID era, but in order to try to manage
[2:19:05] some of these undesignate trails that are bumping up, you know, that we thought that that was the best
[2:19:10] and that the board may designate a trail.
[2:19:13] So our management plan is, you know,
[2:19:16] that detailed process that we do look forward to
[2:19:19] and then we'll entail kind of all the different,
[2:19:22] you know, pieces that we're going to consider
[2:19:23] and work very deeply with the community.
[2:19:26] But to tackle the issue that Joan was describing,
[2:19:31] you know, we have to manage the property
[2:19:33] and the interim in this period in between management plan
[2:19:37] and essentially acquisition of different parcels.
[2:19:42] So that's where we are now.
[2:19:45] So most properties we would typically close upon acquisition,
[2:19:48] this one was unique, but that's, for example,
[2:19:51] an action that is not, that's an action
[2:19:54] that the department takes.
[2:19:57] Christine?
[2:19:58] Christine Johnson-Posak, piggybacking on both of those.
[2:20:04] I'm wondering, and maybe I will literally
[2:20:07] regret this. If it would be useful for us to have a driving tour of the mountain region,
[2:20:16] or that region that is going to be in the first management plan. I like pictures all in a
[2:20:22] van with our nose is pressed to the windows and someone yelling things out as we go. But better
[2:20:28] than that. That sounds amazing. I'd love it. I'd love it. That's amazing. And then we can stop the
[2:20:36] on occasion and check out to this place is I think that's great with with that area kind of on
[2:20:43] the horizon to better understand it together and better showcase the kind of different properties
[2:20:49] and the different things that are out there. Fantastic. Trace Baker, Potec and I certainly
[2:20:55] would support Christine's suggestion too. Lauren? Yeah, Lauren Kelso. I just going back to your
[2:21:04] about budget stuff that you guys are working through. What's the timeline? What's the
[2:21:08] sort of, I'm sure I can find this online, so if you could just help me out though, how
[2:21:12] when do you guys have to make, I saw the August 4th meeting, when do you guys have to sort of respond
[2:21:17] to those, like, those requests? How is your timeline for making all those decisions? Is that all just
[2:21:24] for the 20, 27 budget and, like, in that cycle? Yes. So you guys have a second. I don't give you
[2:21:35] these dates pull them.
[2:21:37] Totally.
[2:21:39] So, on September 15th, I believe there will be an elected offices, they'll have a budget
[2:21:46] hearing and discussion, a budget of a work session, although they'll be discussing and presenting
[2:21:50] you know, their side, the last one was just for departments under the County Administrator
[2:21:56] like us. I think on October or when the late October there will be a public hearing on the budget
[2:22:07] and that will be an open one with common involved and I think that's around the time we're
[2:22:30] Well, we'll need to be put in place. So that's the general schedule and in interaction. And so, you know, there's kind of internal processes in between there. And, you know, just trying to tee up, you know, some of the internal budget discussions for the future, but the big touch points are those. So I think, yeah, late mid October is the public hearing for the budget. That's the big one.
[2:23:01] And yeah, September 15th, kind of the similar exercise would be elected offices.
[2:23:08] Thank you.
[2:23:09] Any thing we're adjacent?
[2:23:12] Well, thank you, Jason, then we are adjourned.
[2:23:15] Thank you.