HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Conservation And Stewardship Board - Minutes - 01/12/2022
Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Zoom Meeting
January 12, 2022
5:30 pm
01/12/2022 – MINUTES Page 1
1. CALL TO ORDER: Andrea Elson, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 5:33 pm.
2. ROLL CALL: Alycia Crall, Ross Cunniff, Cole Kramer, Elena Lopez, Vicky McLane, Joe
Piesman, Mike Weber, Andrea Elson, Denise Culver
Public Participation: Kelly Ohlson, David Tweedale, Raymond Watts
NAD Staff: Katie Donahue, NAD Director, Zoe Shark, Kristin Powell, Julia Feder,
Bernadette Kuhn, Kara Jacob, Alynn Karnes, Heidi Wagner, Alycia Crall, Aaron Reed,
Karl Manderbach, Dave Irwin
3. APPOINT ACTING CHAIR: Ross Cunniff made a motion to appoint Andrea Elson
as the Chair of the Land Conservation & Stewardship Board. Elena Lopez
seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 8-0 (Denise Culver
attended shortly after nominations)
Andrea suggested holding elections for the chair and Vice Chair during the February
meeting which is the earlier of the February/March timeframe specified in the Board’s
by-laws.
Kelly Ohlson, LCSB/City Council Liaison kicked off the meeting by greeting everyone
and committed to attending more meetings in the future, as he’s been busy with City
Council meetings. He welcomed Denise, Ross and Elena to the board and thought they
would bring incredible aspects to the board and welcomed Joe and Vicky back for their
extended positions and Katie Donahue as the new Director of Natural Areas. He
thanked David and Ray for all their past work, leadership, and commitment to the board.
He thanked Zoe for her incredible work as NAD Interim Director over the last two years.
Kelly reminded board members that it was 30 years ago that the sales tax initiative
passed. Reflecting on the history of the board he would like board members to continue
to challenge City Council, staff, and others to maintain the integrity of the work the board
commits to.
Raymond Watts felt the LCSB owes Kelly a great deal of thanks for all the funding,
through the ballot measures, his history with the work of the board as well as City
Council and his commitment to natural areas and open spaces. He encouraged Kelly to
continue his work.
4. INTRODUCTIONS: Board members introduced themselves to the new Natural Areas
Director, Katie Donahue and Katie introduced herself and provided information on her
background and experience.
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Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Zoom Meeting
January 12, 2022
0 1/12/2022 MINUTES Page 2
5. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION: Raymond Watts, brought attention to all the work the board
has done in the past, welcomed the new members and their experience and
background. He believes the value of the Board to City Council is vital.
6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Elena Lopez sent a handful of changes to the meeting
minutes regarding the options for purchase of the Hughes property. Vicky
McLane made a motion to approve the December LCSB meeting minutes as
amended. Cole Kramer seconded the motion. The motion was approved 9-0
7. ACTION ITEMS:
LCSB Annual Report
Cole Kramer and Andrea Elson put together the final draft of the annual report.
Joe Piesman made a motion to approve the LCSB 2021 Annual Report. Mike
Weber seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved 9-0
8. UPDATES:
Meet the Ranger Team
Dave Irwin, NAD Lead Ranger, introduced himself and his role with the Natural Areas
Department. He introduced three of the rangers present for the meeting. Senior
Ranger Kristin Powell greeted the board and provided her experience with the Ranger
Program. Karl Manderbach, resident ranger at Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, and Kara
Jacob introduced themselves as well. Dave Irwin provided information on the work,
mission, history, and structure of the ranger program. Kristin Powell, NAD lead ranger
summarized the most frequent violations over the last two years are open container,
dogs off leash and trespassing during trail closures. Rangers also track number of
tickets, warnings issued and friendly or informational contacts. For example, while in
2020 the rangers issued 270 tickets and 352 written warnings, the rangers also made
3,923 “cordial contacts”.
Board members congratulated the rangers and the work they do to maintain regulations
within our natural areas.
Conservation stewardship planning
Julia Feder, NAD Environmental Program Manager, Bernadette Kuhn, Senior
Environmental Planner and Heidi Wagner, Senior Environmental Planner provided
a summary of the Conservation and Stewardship Planning and Mountains to Plains
2021 Zone Update. This update resulted in a suite of updated tactics that define
implementation priorities for the coming years. In 2022 staff will complete an update for
the Poudre River Zone. Conservation and Stewardship Planning serves as a framework
to facilitate well-managed natural areas that provide habitat, scenic value, and
DocuSign Envelope ID: CD21AE9C-17FF-4FEE-8291-1E18B7417AD0
Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Zoom Meeting
January 12, 2022
0 1/12/2022 MINUTES Page 3
appropriate recreation opportunities for the community.
Staff summarized the conservation priorities, be nefits, work plan actions and community
engagement. Staff would like to hear any LCSB concerns or comments and return to
the Board in the future.
Discussion: Vicky suggested simplifying the presentation. She felt the presentation
was too theoretical. Simplifying the presentation would make it easier to understand.
She also thought considering the language “recreation” should be taken out of the
presentation. She recommended revisioning the presentation and put back on the
agenda for future discussion. Julia thought it was important for the Board to see the
evolved approach to planning and staying focused in the zone updates and piloting into
action. NAD looks forward to discussing the tactics as they move forward.
Ross Cunniff supported Vicky to maintain supporting the ballot language. The ballot
language guides the program and everything we do needs to be presented through that
lens. He praised the conservation priorities and core to what the program is about.
Ross thanked the staff and would be interested in at least a memo on how public
feedback is coming along and the specificities of that.
Board members asked if the Mountain to Plains Zone Update is an actual written
document. Bernadette explained that the written document is under devel opment and
will be posted on the Natural Areas Department website. All 105 tactics are visible and
demonstrate how they tie into the higher level of goals, strategies, and objectives. That
will be available in the next month on our website. Bernadette reported that every 5-7
years those tactics will be reviewed to see if they are still applicable for that year. We
might add or remove some of the current tactics to use for planning. This is more
dynamic for future and current planning. Bernadette welcomed any feedback from the
board. Any feedback will go directly to the zone planners.
Alycia commended staff on their work and their inclusivity of indigenous people. The
priority of reducing barriers for accessing natural areas is especially appealing.
Staff explained the goals as placeholders to reflect the ballot language and how those
goals and objectives trickle down to the various tactics.
1041 Committee Representation
Zoe Shark, NAD Public Engagement Manager, shared an email from Kelly Smith,
Environmental Planner, with Community Development and Neighborhood Services.
Kelly is the project manager on 1041, as part of the project manager she’s creating
DocuSign Envelope ID: CD21AE9C-17FF-4FEE-8291-1E18B7417AD0
Land Conservation & Stewardship Board
Regular Zoom Meeting
January 12, 2022
0 1/12/2022 MINUTES Page 4
groups in exploring 1041 options. Zoe had asked if any LCSB members would like to
participate in the group discussions and if so, to please let her know and she will pass
names on the Kelly Smith.
Denise Culver and Ross Cunniff volunteered to participate in the group.
Bike Advisory Committee report
Mike reported the BAC reviewed their 2022 workplan and meeting schedule. Courtney
Geery updated members on the Active Mode Plans mentioned earlier. Heidi Wagner
will be representing Natural Areas Department as they move forward with that.
Courtney also discussed the bike friendly community and the platinum designation and
what the City of Fort Collins has done to receive that designation of Platinum and how
we can improve to become a Diamond Community recipient .
Land conservation update
Dave Myers, Land Conservation Manager introduced himself to the new members and
provided a year end update. He shared in 2021 we conserved a total of 207 acres,
spending approximately $3.3M. Currently we have, under contract, 889 acres that will
close in 2022 with a total of $6.5M that we are spending. This does not include the
Hughes property. Under contract is an additional 261 acres that will close in January of
2023. The great thing is that in our metrics our acres conserve d per capita, based on
175,000 people, our goal is to stay .13 acres per capita, at the end of 2021 we are at
.1396, which we will exceed at the end of 2022. Our accumulative acres that we’ve
conserved over the span of the natural areas, fee acquisitions, conservation easements
and acres that we’ve partnered with other organizations, we’ve conserved 55,304 acres.
NAD has spent, over the course of our existence, $153M on conservation, which is
amazing and exciting. The acquisition that closed in December, a conservation
easement 17 acres, along the Poudre River, opposite of Butterfly Natural Areas. That
will be a nice corridor.
Board members applauded Dave and the land conservation team for their work over the
last year to obtain acreage.
Meeting Adjourned 7:53 p.m.
_____________________ _________________
Vice Chair, Andrea Elson Date
DocuSign Envelope ID: CD21AE9C-17FF-4FEE-8291-1E18B7417AD0
4/11/2022