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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Conservation And Stewardship Board - Minutes - 01/10/2007MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS LAND CONSERVATION & STEWARDSHIP BOARD Regular Meeting 200 W. Mountain, Suite A January 10, 2007 For Reference: Bill Bertschy - 491-7377 Mayor Doug Hutchinson - 416-2154 John Stokes, Staff Liaison - 221-6263 Board Members Present Bill Bertschy, Michelle Brown, Michelle Grooms, Vicky McLane, Greg Snyder, Linda Stanley, Karyl Ting Board Members Absent Dave Theobold, and Greg Eckert Excused Staff Present Natural Resources Dent: Daylan Figgs, Geri Kidawski, Mark Sears, John Stokes Guests Operations Services/Real Estate Services: Lindsey Kuntz Larimer Count v — Facilitator: Meegan Flenniken Agenda Review No changes Public Comments • Seth Anthony: I really appreciated the discussion about the new Wildlife Management Guidelines at the Council meeting, but it is an extremely long document and it wasn't posted on the web for public consumption until the Thursday or Friday before the Council meeting. I don't know what City policy is or how things come before them, but in the future could such documents be posted on the web before they come before these Boards? • Bertschy: What is the policy regarding this? • Stokes: We usually post documents the Thursday before the Council meeting. Seth, we will post it again prior to the February 20`h session of Council. It will be posted this Friday on our web site, and then we will continually update it between now and February 20"'. • Seth Anthony: I guess what I would like is to have documents posted on the web site prior to them being discussed at this Board meeting, due to the short time frame between them being posted on the web site and the Council meeting. • Stokes: We will research what the City procedure is, regarding posting documents on the web site before a Board meeting. Land Conservation & Stewardship Board January 10, 2007 Page 2 of 9 Review and Approval of Minutes • Brown: Please change all comments by Grooms to Brown, since Michelle Grooms was absent from the December meeting. • McLane: On page 11 there is a minor typo, the word should be conversations instead of conservations. Vicky McLane moved to approve the December 13, 2006 meeting minutes, with corrections. Michelle Brown second the motion. The minutes were unanimously approved. Bobcat Ridge Vacation / Dedication of CR 32C ROW to Larimer County — Lindsay Kuntz • Sears: I would like to introduce Lindsay Kuntz from our Real Estate Services Office. Larimer County required the City of Fort Collins to improve County Road 32C for the access to the City's Bobcat Natural Area. As a result of the road improvements, the County will need to vacate the old alignment of County Road 32 C and the City will need to dedicate the new alignment. Sears referenced maps attached to the memo, and the Board reviewed them. • Kuntz: The most important issue, and the reason I included the maps for your review, is that the old road goes right through one of the Pulliam buildings. The original survey was done sometime around 1886. • Stanley: Who takes care of the road? • Sears: The County is currently maintaining the road. • Bertschy: If there are no further questions, may I have a motion. Linda Stanley made a motion. Motion for Council to approve the vacation of the old alignment of County Road 32C and the dedication of the new alignment of County Road 32C in the Bobcat Ridge Natural Area. Second by Michelle Grooms. It was unanimously approved by all. Soapstone Management Plan — Daylan Figgs • Figgs: Meegan Flenniken is here with us from Larimer County Open Lands, and she is working on the Red Mountain Open Space Management Plan. Meegan can answer any question you may have regarding the Red Mountain Plan, she will also co -host the open house. In his presentation Figgs reviewed with the Board the following topics regarding the Soapstone Management process: - Survey updates o Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO) Land Conservation & Stewardship Board January 10, 2007 Page 3 of 9 o Oral history project — video - Process o Visitor experiences o Conservation targets - Management Zones o Define visitor experience o Based in part on — resource and recreation value o Seamless with Red Mountain o Define limits of change o Require annual monitoring - Zone 1 o Create `off trail experience" o No development / Guided tours — no trails o Most sensitive areas o Natural surroundings, high quality native plant communities, wildlife viewing, view shed, cultural resources protected in place o High level of time / energy o Monitor ■ Invasive /noxious weed concerns ■ Impacts to experience, resources ■ Trail development ■ Wildlife use / distribution - Zone 2A o Sensitive areas o Solitude, natural settings, viewing opportunities o Hiking only on narrow natural surface trails; high time / energy level o Cultural resources protected in place o Monitor ■ Social trails ■ Noxious weeds ■ Cultural sites ■ Wildlife distribution ■ Visitor experience (encounter rate etc.) o Maybe seasonal - Zone 2B o Sensitive areas with some human impacts o Solitude less likely — higher encounter rates o Multiple use trails (hiking, bicycling, horse back riding) o Trails more defined o Human alteration of landscape more visible o Cultural resources may be removed if sensitive o Management activities / prescriptive grazing more visible o Monitor ■ Noxious weeds ■ Visitor experience Land Conservation & Stewardship Board January 10, 2007 Page 4 of 9 ■ Social trails - Zone 3 o Less sensitive areas ■ Still great views, natural vegetation, wildlife viewing, modest energy / effort o Solitude not likely o Cultural resources probably removed o Highly visible multiple use trails, some hardened surface (ADA) o Create shorter, less challenging trails o Highest level of development ■ Parking lots, shelters, roads, overlooks etc. - Colorado Natural Heritage Program o Conservation target and threats assessment o Systematic way of looking at conservation targets and impacts o Prioritize conservation efforts o Direct visitor experience Figgs reviewed with the Board the conservation targets by priority and system type chart. - 2007 Work Plan o Entry Road design and construction o Select sites for Parking lots, trailheads o On going Cultural Surveys and information gathering ■ Fort Collins Museum, Colorado State University etc. o Additional survey needs ■ Inventory recreation opportunities regionally ■ Northern leopard frog ■ Brassy minnow and other prairie stream fish ■ Butterfly (expand on 2004 survey) ■ Continue swift fox, elk, mule deer, raptor nests ■ Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO) Stokes: Part of the purpose of doing this base line inventory work is so that we have a base line, and then we can observe change over time and also we can decide if that's acceptable or not. McLane: Meegan, is this something that is being done on Red Mountain? Flenniken: Yes, and on Red Mountain we are also identifying what we call Management Targets, which are ecological, cultural, recreational and western heritage. We've been working with Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) as well so we overlap that way. We will be meeting with CNHP in the next couple of weeks to talk about some projects in 2007 where we have overlapping conservation targets, and we will talk about how we can monitor those targets, and how can we have a similar monitoring method that matches up. Bertschy: How would you characterize zone 1-4. Figgs: Zone 1 is the most ecologically sensitive and equals level 1 on the handout. Grooms: What about pilfering at these sites? Land Conservation & Stewardship Board January 10, 2007 Page 5 of 9 • Figgs: We will be monitoring this, and we probably won't take people to Folsom Point. If we have treasured artifacts chances are that they will be collected by the Natural Areas and placed in the Fort Collins Museum. We have an agreement with the Fort Collins Museum that anything collected from our properties will be placed in there museum. • Stokes: Jason La Belle from CSU has been very helpful in telling us where we ought to be careful • Ting: Is someone making an effort to secure very sensitive areas? • Figgs: We are not putting out any location information; it's protected from the Freedom of Information Act. We are very guarded about who sees that information. • Brown: How can one get past the Freedom of Information Act? • Stokes: The data that is collected is housed at the State Historical Society, and you can only get that data if you are a bonafide archeologist researcher. So if you were a collector it would be hard to acquire any information from the State Historical Society. • Bertschy: It says here that grazing will be allowed in zone 2A and not in zone 1. • Figgs: Grazing will be a management tool, because of the type of habitat at Soapstone. • Bertschy: Is that going to require fencing? • Figgs: It may. We are working on a new grazing plan for 2009. Some of the options we are looking at especially in the areas where we want to reduce our grazing intensity are, that every year we put up a temporary fence and graze that area quickly and then remove the fence and move on from there. • Grooms: What about bison. • Figgs: When we re -write the management plan we can look at Bison. They require a different style of fencing. The handling facilities that they have won't handle Bison, and mixing people with Bison can be an issue. It's doable, but is that what we want to tackle right now. • Stokes: Having Bison is very expensive and labor intensive, financial wise. • Figgs: We had the Bison producer at Terry Bison Ranch look at our lease a couple of years ago, and his concern was the infrastructure we had in place. Nothing we had was Bison proof regarding our water tanks, etc. So our conversation with him was how many hundreds of thousands of dollars we have to put into upgrading the property regarding this concern. • Stanley: How does the County feel about Bison? • Flenniken: The County is not looking to graze Bison on Red Mountain because the cost and all the other issues are a concern. • Bertschy: Is Cheyenne WY doing anything? Stokes pointed out the Cheyenne property on a map. • Figgs: Mike Ables the community development contact in Cheyenne, attends the Fort Collins Technical Advisory Board, so he is aware of what we are doing, and he has asked us to attend his Board as well. Every conversation we have with Mike, he expresses his intent of folding that property into our lifestyle of management. • Bertschy: What department in the City of Cheyenne will manage that property? Land Conservation & Stewardship Board January 10, 2007 Page 6 of 9 • Figgs: I believe it will be Parks. They do not have an open space program, or natural areas program. • Bertschy: What is the seasonality of Soapstone? • Figgs: We've discussed keeping Soapstone open in its entirety for nine months, or twelve months out of the year. Most of the staff is leaning towards closing the Natural Area in the winter. Those are issues we will have to work through with the public process. • Ting: Regarding a paleontologic assessment, there are rich deposits in various areas and have they been surveyed. I would think that they would be an important part of preservation. • Figgs: At Round Butte Ranch we had a gentleman from the American Museum of Natural History come out because there are ammonites there, and he is the world's ammonite expert. That same deposit, which is on Round Butte just south of Soapstone, is associated with the Pierre shale, which outcrops around some trees at Soapstone. So very likely there are ammonites at Soapstone as well. • Snyder: Are you considering doing regular surveys in the spring? With the possibility of heavy rains and/or snow melt you'll have erosion. Even when it gets dry you'll have enough wind erosion where the artifacts will be exposed. Some of this you won't be able to do anything about, but in the spring after a heavy rain or snow melt can you do a quick visual survey of the affected area. • Figgs: There are two options that we are looking at. We thought of asking the Colorado Archeological Case Society, which is a private club of archeological enthusiasts that does just that. The second option would be working with Jason LaBelle and the archeological students at CSU, which they would do the same thing as a field class. The nice thing about the baseline work that we've done is that Jason LaBelle has a good idea of the spots that have the potential of eroding. • Ting: Is there any focus on species management, for instance leopard frogs? • Figgs: No. Our general method is more ecosystem / landscape work. What we can do for leopard frogs is to manage riparian areas and permanent water bodies differently, and it's one of the management techniques we can use for some of the wetlands also. If we made a conscience decision to dry up a wetland associated with a stock tank we would be very quick to survey that wetland to see what was in it before making that move. Bertschy: It states here that hunting will not be allowed at Soapstone, but will the County allow hunting because of the funding? Willa sanctuary be created at Soapstone creating an over population of wildlife? Flenniken: We may be looking of a very limited high quality hunting experience; we could find that it will be a short five week window being archery or muzzle or maybe another scenario. Most of it may be elk hunting or big game hunting on the western boundary where it's forested. Figgs: Just having people in the landscape will displace wildlife. I think the reason we put hunting on the shelf is because we really don't know how animals will re- distribute themselves once we open to the public. In reality from looking at the elk and the mule deer herds that are up there we are not dealing with many animals Land Conservation & Stewardship Board January 10, 2007 Page 7 of 9 anymore. I guess I'm not anticipating seeing an over browse issue, but it's something we will definitely be aware of • Grooms: I noticed here that you have potential restoration targets for the Black - Footed Ferret. • Figgs: If the prairie dog counts are large enough, and if the neighbors are ok with it. • Stokes: With small prairie dogs counts, Ferrets do not survive well. We would have to get up to a couple thousand acres of prairie dogs before we can reintroduce the Black -Footed Ferret. • McLane: I think of how that area has been occupied for 10,000 years and how the Native Americans have come down from Red Mountain on to Soapstone. What if anything do you see in the way of painting that picture and preserving that history? • Figgs: That will be part of the interpretation effort that we are making with these tribes. We want to tell the story that this landscape has been occupied for 10,000 years by various people for various reasons up to present day ranching. • Snyder: Is there any matching plan for Red Mountain as far as people coming in from the West? How does that match up with Soapstone? Does the County have a plan? • Flenniken: We are one step behind; we haven't put it on the map to match up with what the City of Fort Collins zones look like, but conceptually we know that they will match. • Stokes: We need to think about those two properties as a unit in terms of recreation. If there is something that Red Mountain can not provide, Soapstone may be able to provide it, and visa versa. • McLane: Meegan, what is it about the County's funding that enables hunting at Red Mountain? • Flenniken: When we purchased Red Mountain we received about seven million from GOCO and about one million from the Wildlife Quadrant Funds, which the Division of Wildlife allocates, so as part of that they indicated the expectations of working with them on a hunting plan. • Ting: Is there some restriction regarding motorized vehicles. • Figgs: Yes, and only for ranching and for our Natural Areas staff. And when we site parking lots, we will try and site them in areas that are as least visible as possible. • Ting: Where will the kiosk access points for motor vehicles, such as dirt bikes etc., be located? • Figgs: We are still working on that, but ideally as you first come on to the property there will be kiosks to set the stage, and then other information will be posted as you move through the property. • Bertschy: While working under construction at Soapstone, how will you handle cultural resources and endangered plant species etc.? • Figgs: We'll have to survey ahead of our construction, and contact archeologists to make sure the area is clean from artifacts. We'll do the same thing regarding plant species. • Stanley: Will you bring the road design to this Board? • Figgs: Yes, I'm sure Mark Sears will. Land Conservation & Stewardship Board January 10, 2007 Page 8 of 9 Bertschy: When will be your next report? Figgs: We have an open house on Wednesday, January 24, 2007, at the Fort Collins Senior Center, and we can present meeting results to this Board at the February meeting or whenever the Board would like us to present a report. Bertschy: The Board would like periodic updates. 2006 Accomplishments and 2007 Major Projects Mark Sears Sears mentioned that he sent out a memo that highlighted the major projects that began in 2006, and the items that are planned for 2007. He reviewed the accomplishments and projects with the Board. • Snyder: Regarding the management of the Gateway Natural Area what does that in tale? • Sears: We basically took over management at the end of October 2006 when the on -site ranger left, and are officially managing Gateway since January 1, 2007. We are currently interviewing for an on -site ranger, and hope to make a decision by the end of the week. We're in the process of remodeling the ranger house, which should be completed by the end of January, and we hope to have a ranger back on site by early February. • Bertschy: What about fees? • Sears: Fees will remain the same. • Snyder: Will there be any enhancements of trails? • Sears: Parks did have plans for additional trails that we may consider. • Brown: In regards to the Volunteer Trail Hosts and Master Naturalist programs for 2007, will you train volunteers specifically for Soapstone? • Sears: What we are planning on doing is having basic training for the Volunteer Trail Hosts, and then some specific volunteer training for Soapstone. We have a specialized training coming up on just ecology, opened to both the Master Naturalists and the Volunteer Trail Hosts. • Snyder: Going back to Benson Reservoir, what happens to the aquatic life especially if you have to drain the reservoir now? Are there any plans for improvement for the reservoir itself? • Sears: Conceptually there are three scenarios, but only two are practical. One of them is restoring the dam and leaving the lake the way it has been over the last few years. The other scenario is to lower the dam and build a much smaller dam and instead of having one large body of water we would have two or thee much smaller bodies of water. It would then be a series of small ponds with a much more extensive wetlands, and very small bodies of open water. • Snyder: How can you dump the water if you don't own it? • Sears: Because the State is telling us we have to. We will be meeting with our attorneys and the engineers in the next few weeks to see how we react to this letter from the State Engineer's Office. Land Conservation & Stewardship Board January 10, 2007 Page 9 of 9 New Business: No new business. Announcements: • Bertschy: Karyl attended a meeting on re -organization while Michelle and I were both out of town. • Ting: It was a meeting that Darin Atteberry had asked to convene with the various Boards that are most impacted by the post -city re -organization. The Boards that attended were Parks and Recreation, Air Quality, Water, Land Conservation, Planning and Zoning, and Transportation. Basically they were going through the whole issues of the change in City government. • Stokes: Next month I'd like to speak to the Board about our annual report pertaining to our budget, and also talk about the size of our staff and some needs we feel we need to fill. Also, last evening there was a presentation to the Council work session for the Wildlife Management Guidelines, and Rick Bachand was there and he did a very nice job answering Council questions. We have a new Board member, his name is David Theobold and he works at CSU. He will be an incredible resource to this Board and to the program. David is a leader in the Country on GIS and Natural Resource issues. He will attend the February meeting. Bill Bertschy will be out-of-town for the February Board meeting, Michelle Brown will sit as chair. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Submitted by Geri Kidawski Administrative Secretary Appproved