HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 03/24/2009 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 032, 2009, AUTHORIZ r
ITEM NUMBER: 12
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY DATE: March 24, 2009
FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL STAFF: Daylan Figgs
John Stokes
SUBJECT
First Reading of Ordinance No. 032, 2009, Authorizing the Use of a Portion of Bernard Ranch as
Match For aNeotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Grant Administered by the U.S.Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS).
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. The Land Conservation and
Stewardship Board considered this item at its March 11,2009 meeting and recommended approval
of the Ordinance.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The City will use a 440 acre portion of the Bernard Ranch, an 880 acre property under contract to
be purchased by the City before the end of March 2009, as match toward the grant. Thus, no new
or additional City funds will be required.
By using the City's previous investment in the Bernard Ranch, a local organization, the Rocky
Mountain Bird Observatory, will receive $244,351 from USFWS to fund bird research within the
Laramie Foothills Mountains to Plains Project,the Shortgrass Prairie Bird Conservation Region and
in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The research funded by the $244,351 grant will be conducted by the Rocky Mountain Bird
Observatory(RMBO). RMBO's bird research and monitoring will inform conservation strategies
and management for grassland bird species within the Laramie Foothills Mountains to Plains
Project,the Shortgrass Prairie Bird Conservation Region and in the Chihuahuan Desert. Grassland
bird populations have shown steeper,more consistent,and more geographically widespread declines
that any other guild of North American bird. The granting agency(USFWS) will require a Notice
of Grant Requirements be recorded against the match property, and pursuant to the Notice will be
entitled to enforce the conservation of Bernard Ranch.
BACKGROUND
Neotropical birds are a group of birds that breed and raise young in the United States and Canada
and migrate to the warmer climates to winter in Mexico, Central America, South America and the
Caribbean. This category of bird species includes high priority grassland birds found on Soapstone
Prairie Natural Area as well as in the Laramie Foothill Mountains to Plains(LFMTP)project area.
The importance of the LFMTP for 22 grassland birds of high conservation priority has been
March 24, 2009 -2- Item No. 12
documented through work performed by RMBO and the Natural Areas Program and is reflected in
the recently adopted Soapstone Prairie Natural Area Management Plan. However,the LFMTP lies
only within the breeding range of these species and has no influence on the conservation of these
important species and their habitat within their wintering grounds.
All of the high priority grassland species breeding in the LFMTP over-winter in Chihuahuan Desert
Grasslands in Mexico. Successful conservation of these species is dependent on conservation efforts
within both the breeding and wintering ranges.
The Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory,along with its partners in the grant(the Fort Collins Natural
Areas Program,and Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon)will address conservation issues related
to high priority grassland birds in two geographically distinct research projects(in the United States
and Mexico) that focus on important breeding, migratory, and wintering areas. This project will
help reveal primary threats at each site that attribute to the decline of these species.
First, the project will focus on habitat protection, research and monitoring for 22 high priority
species within the Laramie Foothills in northern Larimer County. A second component of the grant
will take place in the Shortgrass Prairie Bird Conservation Region an area contiguous to,but much
larger than, the Laramie Foothills. This portion of the project involves the protection of mountain
plover nests to increase nest survival rates in cultivated fields, habitat enhancement for grassland
birds,and education and outreach efforts aimed at grassland bird conservation. In northern Mexico,
the project will include research, monitoring, and outreach to conserve the same 22 species plus 8
additional priority species on the wintering grounds identified as a Priority Conservation Area.
Research from this project is expected to inform management decisions at Soapstone Prairie Natural
Area, in the Laramie Foothills, in grasslands of eastern Colorado, and the grasslands of northern
Mexico. Hopefully land managers will be able to utilize the information to increase populations of
these declining birds.
In order for this land purchase to be considered as match for the USFWS grant, the City will be
required to record a"Notice of Grant Requirements" that will require the City to be bound by the
terms of the grant agreement,to ensure the long term conservation of the property,and to obtain the
consent of the USFWS prior to transfer or encumbrance of the property. The City will also enter
into an agreement with RMBO obligating RMBO to comply with the terms of the grant agreement.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Land Conservation and Stewardship Board minutes, March 11, 2009.
ATTACHMENT 1
Land Conservation and Stewardship Board
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
2009 Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Grant Excerpt
• Figgs: This is the third Neotropical grant that we apply for and are successful in
receiving, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. The City
will use a 440 acre purchase of the Bernard Ranch as match toward the grant.
Using the funds already spent on this land acquisition as match towards this grant
is a great secondary benefit for the City. The $244,351 grant will fund Rocky
Mountain Bird Observatory's critical research and monitoring work to inform
conservation strategies and management for 30 high priority grassland birds
within the Laramie Foothills Mountains to Plains Project, the Shortgrass Prairie
Bird Conservation Region and in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico. This project
will continue work funded by the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act
since 2002 to conserve high-priority and declining grassland bird species of
western North America.
• Debell: If at some point we wanted out of this agreement is that possible?
• Figgs: Typically with the Federal grants it's full payback or partial payback or
substitutions of how we match, and at that point it is negotiated.
• Gaughan: These grants are competitive and hard to get so congratulations.
• Grooms: Do we need to build observatory blinds?
• Figgs: The work that will be done on site will be done by the Rocky Mountain
Bird Observatory, and they've been up there for three years.
• Grooms: They survey birds over how many acres?
• Figgs: We will survey birds over several thousand acres between both properties.
What we are focusing on in the two years of this grant is, now that we know our
hot spots, we want to understand how our management activities affect those, and
we want to look at a second year of nest success.
• DeBell: Are there costs associated with this that we wouldn't have had otherwise?
• Figgs: There are none.
Gaughan motioned to recommend that City Council approve authorizing the use of a portion
of the Bernard Ranch purchase as match for a Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act
Grant administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Haines second. It was
unanimously approved.
ORDINANCE NO. 032, 2009
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AUTHORIZING THE USE OF A PORTION OF BERNARD RANCH
AS MATCH FOR A NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY BIRD CONSERVATION
ACT GRANT ADMINISTERED BY THE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
WHEREAS,in March 2008,the City Council adopted Ordinance No.037,2008,authorizing
the use of the City's Zimmerman Conservation Easement as a matching contribution for a
Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Grant Administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service ("FWS"); and
WHEREAS,pursuant to Ordinance No. 037, 2008,the City has worked cooperatively with
the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory ("RMBO") to carry out the terms of the 2008 grant project
involving the study of neotropical birds, a category of bird species that includes high priority
grassland birds found on the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area ("Soapstone"); and
WHEREAS, in late March 2009, the City purchased a 880-acre property referred to as
Bernard Ranch Phase Two to the south of Soapstone in March 2009, at the cost of approximately
$946,000; and
WHEREAS, a 440-acre portion of Bernard Ranch Phase Two as shown on Exhibit A,
attached hereto and incorporated herein by this reference(the"Property"),has been identified as an
appropriate area to be conserved as habitat for neotropical birds in the region; and
WHEREAS,the Property is more particularly described as a portion of the Southl/2 of the
Southeast 1/4 of Section 10; the Northeast 1/4 of Section 15; and the West ''/z of the Northwest 1/4
of Section 14; all in Township 11 North, Range 69 West, 6`h P.M., Larimer County, Colorado; and
WHEREAS, RMBO, together with other grant partners, is continuing to study neotropical
birds,and has applied for a grant of$244,351 from FWS,which RMBO hopes to use to continue its
neotropical bird study as part of the Laramie Foothills Mountain to Plains Project, which includes
Soapstone, and in other geographical areas that the birds inhabit; and
WHEREAS, the FWS grant terms will require RMBO to match the grant funds awarded;
and
WHEREAS, the funds already expended by the City to purchase the Property may be used
to match the grant funds awarded by FWS to RMBO; and
WHEREAS,in order to commit the Property as the matching contribution for the FWS grant,
FWS will require that the City record a Notice of Grant Requirements in the real property records
of the Larimer County Clerk and Recorder for the Property; and
WHEREAS, the Notice of Grant Requirements requires the City to be bound by the terms
of the grant agreement between FWS and RMBO,including the obligation to ensure the long term
conservation of the Property and to obtain the consent of the FWS prior to conveying or
encumbering the Property; and
WHEREAS,the City will enter into an agreement with RMBO requiring RMBO to comply
with the terms of the grant agreement between FWS and RMBO; and
WHEREAS,the data acquired from the study will allow City staff to more effectively form
conservation strategies and manage high priority grassland birds that are found at Soapstone; and
WHEREAS,under Section 23-111 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins,the City Council
is authorized to sell or otherwise dispose of any and all interests in real property owned in the name
of the City, provided that Council first finds by ordinance that the sale or disposition is in the best
interests of the City.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT
COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. That the Council hereby finds that executing and recording the Notice of Grant
Requirements as described herein is in the best interests of the City of Fort Collins.
Section 2. That the Mayor is hereby authorized to execute a Notice of Grant
Requirements consistent with the terms of this Ordinance.
Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 24th day of
March, A.D. 2009, and to be presented for final passage on the 21 st day of April, A.D. 2009.
Mayor
ATTEST:
City Clerk
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Passed and adopted on final reading on the 21 st day of April, A.D. 2009.
Mayor
ATTEST:
City Clerk
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Bernard Ranch Location Page 1 of 1
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