PJ Monthly Nov24 thumbnail

PLAN Jeffco Monthly November 2024

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PJ Monthly Nov24 thumbnail

Join Us in Celebrating as we mark one year of the PLAN Jeffco Monthly. We invite you to reflect on the importance of community engagement in enhancing the quality of life in Jefferson County. Your participation plays a crucial role in our advocacy for open spaces, and we appreciate your commitment to preserving the environment. Together, we can continue to foster a deep connection with nature and encourage others to enjoy the diverse parks and recreational opportunities our county has to offer. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us!

Download your copy of the November newsletter here.

Furred, feathered & finned critters that are protected by conservation easements

Conservation Easements Preserve Open Lands, Protect Wildlife

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Furred, feathered & finned critters that are protected by conservation easementsIn 1971, Carol Karlin conceived of the idea of buying large swaths of scenic mountain property to protect it from development and build trails for public recreation. Shortly thereafter, PLAN Jeffco was formed, and months later, the Jeffco Open Space program was voted into reality. Read the full story here.

Since that time, nearly 58,000 acres have been purchased by Jeffco Open Space, lands that have become Open Space Parks and that have been incorporated into local city and park & recreation district trails and playgrounds. But purchasing lands is not the only way to preserve open space.

Conservation easements, voluntary, legal agreements that permanently limit uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values, are instruments that have protected and preserved some 2.7 million acres in Colorado alone, a number that represents over 6% of private lands in the State. Read more

Remembering the Founders – Carol Karlin

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The Woman of the Living Room Legacy

By Vicky Gits and Bette Seeland

Karlin is credited with launching PLAN Jeffco and the open space movement in 1971 from her Lakewood living room along with a gathering of members of the League of Women Voters and others.

Without the vision and genius of Carol Karlin the Jefferson County Open Space system might never have become reality.

Thanks to Karlin’s idea of scooping up cheap acreage for posterity, the Front Range enjoys a generous portfolio of trails and parks owned and maintained in perpetuity by the residents of and visitors to Jefferson County who pay a half-cent sales tax.

This explains why there is a charming outdoor seating nook framed in pinon and boulders in a distant corner of Elk Meadow Park in Evergreen. Established sometime around 2008, the site is marked with the sign that says, “Carol Karlin Overlook.” Read more

HISTORICAL versus CONTEMPORARY WILDFIRES

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Wildfires in the mountain west have become less frequent but more intense.

Recently, the Denver Gazette published a short article on current research comparing historical versus contemporary wildfires in the America Southwest, with (to this reader) some rather surprising results.

The areas investigated in this study were primarily dry conifer forests dominated by Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, very similar to our own forests in the Jeffco Front Range. Prior to 1880, wildfires used to sweep through these forests every 10 to 12 years. These were almost entirely low-to-moderate intensity fires that cleared out undergrowth and forest duff, burning off the lower limbs of the trees, but not devastating enough to kill the trees themselves. Typically, these low-intensity burns involved smaller areas, 5 to 250 acres. Despite the small size of these wildfires, the frequency and style of these fires were able to maintain forest health, even during prolonged periods of drought, when fires were started by lightning strikes and/or Indigenous forest stewardship events. Read more

Shadow Mountain Bike Park screen

SHADOW MOUNTAIN BIKE PARK DENIED

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Shadow Mountain Bike Park screenIn a seven to zero unanimous decision, last night the Jeffco Planning Commission denied Resolution 23-102980RZ, the Special Use request from the Shadow Mountain Bike Park.

If you’ve been following this development, or if you’re an avid downhill mountain biker, then you’re already aware of the decision – but for everyone else, here’s a bit of background and why the request was denied… Read more

The Bird Family with an Attitude: The Corvids

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Editor’s note: This is a reprint of the original article published by Ann Bonnell, June 1st, 2011. Rest in peace, Ann, we will never forget you or the expertise in bird life that you were so fond of sharing.

Steller's Jay, photo by Matthew Olson

— Steller’s Jay, photo by Matthew Olson

The Corvids are probably the most notable family of birds with an attitude. They are loud, pushy and act like they are the boss, running off other bird species and often eating other birds’ eggs and hatchlings. The Corvids found in our area include Common Raven, American Crow, Western Scrub-Jay, Pinyon Jay, Blue Jay, Steller’s Jay, Gray Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker and Black-billed Magpie. Read more

Empty pillar where interpretive sign once stood.

Founders Sign Removed from Open Space Park

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Empty pillar where interpretive sign once stood.By Vicky Gits and Bette Seeland, Nov 26, 2023

Early this year Jefferson County Open Space quietly removed without replacing an interpretive sign that had stood for about 20 years as a tribute to the visionaries whose genius and hard work launched PLAN Jeffco and created the Open Space Park system.

Now that the sign is gone, it is probably gone for good, according to Matt Robbins of the Open Space department.  Positioned in Elk Meadow Open Space in Evergreen, the sign was removed because it had fallen into disrepair after weathering outdoors for so long.

Evergreen resident Joe Mackey brought the missing sign to the attention of the Open Space Advisory Commission in October at a regular meeting. A former member of OSAC in the ‘70s, Mackey thinks the sign should be preserved. Read more

CROWN HILL OPEN SPACE PARK – A BRIEF HISTORY

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What we know today as Crown Hill Open Space Park wasn’t always a public venue. One year before the end of the American Civil War, in 1864, a young man named Henry Lee sojourned west from Iowa to join his brother, William, who had a farm east of Golden, on the south side of Clear Creek.

The land was rich, fertile enough to support wheat fields (Wheat Ridge), fruit orchards (Fruitdale) and further to the north, the farms that would one day become the city of Arvada.

While William worked the farm, Henry traveled on the narrow gauge railroad up Clear Creek Canyon to the mining camps in Gilpin, Clear Creek, and Park counties, selling vegetables to the residents.

In less than 10 years from the time of his arrival, Henry had met and married Jennie Paul, another Iowa ex-pat, and settled down to a married and family life on land that Henry was now farming.  Read more

PJ Newsletter thumbnail, 2023 March

March 2023 Newsletter

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PJ Newsletter thumbnail, 2023 March

Inside this issue: Stewardship Academy; Conservation Awards; Peaks to Plains; Acquisitions; Lubahn Trail; Hall of Fame; OSAC Notes

Download your copy of the March 2023 newsletter here

Walk through the mud, not around.

Is Mud Season Really Over?

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La Nina - El Nino weather patterns across North AmericaIf you’re a regular — or even an occasional — visitor to our Jeffco Open Space Parks, you’ll know about the mud season routine. Walk through, not around the mud.

We’ve had a fabulous spring this year, the mud was intense for a while, but now that the daily rains have slackened off, is mud season really over?

I doubt it. Read more