Archive for category: News & Views

What has Jeffco Open Space been up to since we saw them last?

2022 Seasonal Wildlife Closures In Effect As Of February 1

Each year Jeffco Open Space uses seasonal wildlife closures at the parks to protect species at sensitive times in their life cycles. This year’s seasonal wildlife closures affect numerous Jeffco Open Space parks and trails. Protect the wildlife you love. Respect seasonal wildlife closures. Parks affected, either in whole or in part: Centennial Cone, Clear Creek Canyon, Deer Creek Canyon, North Table Mountain, South Table Mountain, Cathedral Spires, and Crown Hill. For a full list of affected parks/trails and additional details, please read the JCOS News Flash.  For additional details, check out this video.    Photo by JCOS Volunteer Steve Holmes

Snow Removal On the Trails – It’s a Big Deal!

Ranger Justin caught snow removal off the Tough Cuss Bridge in Clear Creek Canyon Park on Groundhog’s Day. Multiple storms in February each brought 4 to 10 inches of the heavy white stuff to the Parks, necessitating trail-clearing so that everyone could enjoy the fine weather in the following days.

Centennial Cone Hunting Season Wraps Up

The deer and elk hunting late season hunting has wrapped up at Centennial Cone. During the 2021-2022 Hunt, a total of 120 hunters signed in; roughly half of the hunters had a companion with them. Total animals harvested were eight deer, mostly near the western trailhead or southwest of Evening Sun Loop. No elk were taken. JCOS receives Chronic Wasting Disease test results from the hunt, which help determine the health of the animals in the park. By the end of February, only one mature buck had tested positive.

Dakota Ridge Trail Rebuild

Mountain bikers take note: the Open Space Trails Team rebuilt an approved alternate line on Dakota Ridge in February. The alt line had been requested by COMBA years ago, and it worked really well once built. But since then, some of the large boulders had fractured and shifted. The Jefferson County Geologist inspected the area and recommended that major boulders be removed, thus closing the line. The alt line has been closed for quite some time now, but after a lot of heavy-lifting and rock-moving, the line is safe once more and open again.

Meyer Ranch Forest Management

Meyer Ranch visitors, be prepared for more forest management this year. Open Space will treat approximately 37 acres of ponderosa, aspen, mixed conifer, and lodgepole forest. This work will focus on healthy forest structure, aspen enhancement, and wildfire risk reduction. Work is scheduled for completion by the end of 2022 and will contribute to the Open Space Conservation Greenprint goal for improving forest health on 1,000 acres of JCOS lands by the year 2025. There’s a video you can check out for more details.

South Table Mountain Trail Maintenance

The Trails Team will be performing restoration work on South Table Mountain Park, near Croc Tooth Trail, beginning March 14. Advisory signs have been installed, informing the public that work will begin soon to remove and restore a heavily used Unauthorized Trail (UT) on the northeast side of Basalt Cap Loop. This UT has been the topic of great debate over the years and the addition of Croc Tooth Trail makes it completely unnecessary now. The Trails Team will have a mini-excavator running from Basalt Cap Loop, down to Ancient Palms, for about a week and then seed and shrub plantings will begin.

Additionally, a contractor with Trails Team direction will be performing work on Lubahn Trail. The Lubahn Trail will be closed for construction Monday–Thursday starting approximately March 14 through June 1. Olivine Trail will be open for visitors to access the park. Scheduled maintenance will improve trail conditions, visitor safety, and resource protection on this 50-year-old trail.   Photos by Eric Fields.

Say No to Mud

It’s the season — some call it Springtime in the Rockies, others call it Mud Season! As a result of the freezing and thawing,  our Open Space Parks and trails will continue to shut down and reopen, depending on the weather events. If you encounter mud, walk through not around. Walking around causes trail expansion, braiding, ruts, erosion, and vegetation loss. We don’t want to ruin our trails, now do we? And don’t forget to check Alerts and Closures, #KnowBeforeYouGo!

Adaptive Bike Program

JCOS staff recently met with their counterparts at City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) to learn about their adaptive bike share program, and how JCOS might be able to adopt a similar program. These adaptive bikes are class 2 e-mountain bikes that are pedaled by hand and available on loan to visitors experiencing disabilities.

Boulder OSMP currently has five adaptive bikes in their program and were able to provide over 150 visitors an opportunity to ride them in 2021. Visitors are always accompanied by a staff member and a volunteer on rides which vary from two to 20 miles, from easy to difficult terrain. The primary goal of the program is to show riders that their disability doesn’t have to stop them from accessing natural places inaccessible to traditional wheelchairs. The program also removes an economic barrier of riding an adaptive bike, which can be cost-prohibitive since only a handful of companies currently make them.

Dinosaur Ridge Signage Facelift

Thanks to Open Space GIS, Sign, and Park Services Teams, Dinosaur Ridge has been getting a sign facelift. The above kiosk is the latest install at the Visitor Center, complete with Rules & Regs and their very own teal color name plates. Look for more wayfinding to be installed in the coming months.   Photo by Kelly Bowser

Heritage Stewardship at Hildebrand & Mount Glennon

Jeffco Open Space has a Heritage Stewardship Team; they’ve been working over-winter to research and document some of the less well-known cultural resources, like the water control structures at Hildebrand Ranch and the Adkins Residence at Mount Glennon. Research and documentation are critical for understanding how a site may be historically significant, which helps guide planning for future use or removal. All documentation is given to the State Historic Preservation Office where it will be maintained in perpetuity.  Photos by Erica Duvic.

The Mysterious Mustard

It’s a beauty, and it may be unique to Jefferson County! This summer the Open Space Natural Resources Team will collaborate with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP), Denver Botanic Gardens, and the University of Northern Colorado to understand if a mustard in the genus Physaria (bladderpod) is a distinct species only known to Jefferson County. This group of collaborators are seeking to answer a question that has been pondered by botanists for many years – are populations of a misidentified mustard in the genus Physaria an undescribed species? The primary objectives of this study are to: 1) Clarify the relationships among Physaria bellii (Front Range twinpod), Physaria vitulifera (fiddleleaf twinpod), and the mystery Physaria. Genetic sampling will be performed on all three species to understand relationships and to determine if the undescribed Physaria warrants recognition as a distinct species. Sampling will be completed in 2022 with results following in early 2023.  Photo by Pam Smith from CNHP .

Tall Thimbleweed at Meyer Ranch

The Botany and Forestry specialists of The Natural Resources Team have been working together to protect a rare plant population within an active forestry project at Meyer Ranch Park. The plant in question is called Tall Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana); it’s a member of the buttercup family.

Tall Thimbleweed is widespread in the Eastern United States and Canada, but had not been recorded anywhere in Colorado prior to 2017. That’s when when Audrey Boag, a JCOS small grant recipient, discovered a few small patches in Deer Creek Park.

Thanks to her research, the Natural Resources team located a significant patch at Meyer Ranch Park in 2019. The area surrounding this patch has now been flagged off to ensure its protection from heavy forestry machinery that could disturb the plants and negatively impact their habitat.

This is a great example of multiple Open Space programs and groups collaborating to protect and preserve sensitive resources that we’re all so fortunate to serve as stewards of.  Photos by Audrey Boag & Jesse Wooten.

Rare Apple Tree at Centennial House

Along Golden Gate Road sits one of Jefferson County’s historic sites, Centennial House. Nearby stands an apple tree, a bit of a mystery. Fruit trees can help to tell the story of a place. They were sometimes planted by homesteaders in the west to prove they were cultivating the land as required under the Homestead Act of 1862.  In 2020, the Heritage Stewardship Team wondered what we could learn from this tree. Was it planted in the 1870s, when the house was built? Is it an heirloom variety? How can we learn more about the site from the tree and teach visitors about its history? They recently sent in a sample for DNA testing, and the results are interesting:

Clues and Fun Facts

• The Natural Resources Team cored the tree. They estimate that it is about 50 years old. Hence, this tree was not planted in 1876, but it may be a descendant of one that was. There is a second apple tree on the property, as well as a stump near this one.
• The tree is a Whitney Crab, one of few crab apples sweet enough to eat fresh from the branch. (A crab apple is simply an apple under 2” in diameter.)
• The Whitney Crab is an heirloom variety that originated in Illinois in 1869, so former residents may have planted one on their homestead in the 1870s.
• It is self-pollinating, so it does not need another apple tree nearby like some varieties do.
• According to the University of Colorado, of all apple trees DNA tested in Boulder County in 2018, just 1% were Whitney Crab trees, making this variety relatively rare in the area.
• In 2020, we sought a sample apple for DNA testing. Suddenly all the apples were gone. So, mysteries do remain, including: Who were those apple bandits?

Photos by Erica Duvic and Jennee Hancock

Save the Dates – It’s Time To Help Out In the Parks!

Mark your calendars and get ready for the Open Space main volunteer projects of 2022. These are large group projects, so if you’re interested in participating, contact Matt Martinez, mr******@*************co.us, for more information.

Earth Day – April 16 at Van Bibber Park 75 – 100 volunteers. Volunteers will help close undesignated trails and plant native species.

National Trails Day – June 4 at Elk Meadow Park – 100+ volunteers. Volunteers will be working on making Painters Pause, Founders, and Noble Meadows trails more accessible while also removing noxious weeds.

Summer Solstice – June 25 at Matthews/Winters Park – 75 volunteers. Volunteers will help restore the banks of the creek, perform light trail maintenance along Village Walk and Village Ride trails, and clean up the creek just off of Hwy 93.

Colorado Day – August 6 at Beaver Ranch Park – 25 volunteers. Volunteers will build a continuation of new trail in the northwest portion of the park.

National Public Lands Day – September 24 along Clear Creek – 500 volunteers. Multi-agency effort with JCOS hosting volunteers in Clear Creek Canyon Park along with The City of Golden and the City of Wheat Ridge hosting multiple project sites focusing on cleanup habitat restoration.

The seasons are turning. Based on the recent number of Parks/trails closed due to muddy conditions, we’re fast approaching Mud Season.  Miss Mountain Manners wants to remind all Park Visitors to recreate responsibly; when you encounter muddy trails, walk through the mud, not around. Even better, go back and find a dryer trail.

Know before you go, check https://www.jeffco.us/1531/Alerts-Closures for trail conditions and closures before heading out, and don’t forget to pack extra clothes for any type of weather. Carry water; at any time of year it’s easy to get dehydrated and disoriented at elevation.

Miss Mountain Manners wants to let everyone at JeffCo Open Space know how proud we at PLAN Jeffco are of the terrific work that they’re doing. The next time you’re in one of our Parks and you see a JCOS Staffer or Volunteer, introduce yourself and say, “thank you”.

Subscribe, share, follow us at @PLANJeffco, @MannersMountain, Facebook.com/PLANJeffco — we appreciate your support!

As 2021 winds to an end, it’s time to check in on Jeffco Open Space and see what they’ve been up to. This autumn has delivered exceptionally fine weather, and JCOS has been taking advantage of it…

Centennial Cone Park is closed for hunting 12/1-1/31

The late-season hunting access at Centennial Cone Park began December 1, closing the park to all other uses through the end of January. Mayhem Gulch parking lot along US Hwy 6 will remain open this year for access to the Peaks to Plains Trail and Clear Creek Canyon Park.

Hunting is allowed during a seasonal closure at Centennial Cone Park, and by permit only. The late season hunting access occurs December 1 through January 31 of each year. The Park is closed to all other use during this season. Permit applicants must hold a valid late season antler-less elk, female or either sex deer license issued by Colorado Parks and Wildlife for the Jefferson County portion of Game Management Unit 38. Private Land Only licenses are not valid at Centennial Cone Park. Colorado Parks and Wildlife provides a list of eligible hunters for this area to Jeffco Open Space. Jeffco Open Space will then notify these eligible hunters about applying for a Centennial Cone Park hunting access permit. Permits are not available to hunters that have not qualified through the appropriate licensing process.

• Centennial Cone Park Hunting Application Process
• State Hunting License Application
• Centennial Cone Hunting Access Permit 

Coal Creek Study Area Deer Hunt Ends

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) hosted guided youth and novice adult hunting in the Coal Creek Study Area over the past couple months. CPW Youth and Novice Adult Hunting Programs offer safe, educational, and ethical guided hunting with experienced CPW hunters. Read more

By now, nearly every follower of PLAN Jeffco knows about the Peaks to Plains Trail and how it winds through the Clear Creek Canyon Open Space Park. The most-recent under-development section has been dubbed “the Gateway Segment”, since it gives visitors a way to walk (or bike) from the middle of Golden, up through the Grant Terry Trail, into Clear Creek Canyon.

But there’s an even better new trail in town – the Welch Ditch Trail, which runs above the Gateway Segment, along the south wall of Clear Creek Canyon.

The Welch Ditch was one of many that delivered mountain snow and rain to population centers near the Front Range. Build in the 1870s by Charles Welch, a local businessman, the Welch Ditch provided water to Golden City and western Jefferson County, enabling businesses, farmers and even the Colorado School of Mines to prosper.

What was (and still is) so special about the Welch Ditch is the wooden flume. If you’ve ever paid attention as you travel along 6^th Avenue as it first enters the Canyon, you’ve wondered how anyone could construct anything along the nearly-sheer rock walls on the south side. The engineers who originally built the Welch Ditch constructed a flume, a human-made channel built out of wood, powered by gravity, open to the skies, that was used to transport water into Golden. The stream from this Ditch powered the brewery and multiple industrial mills as it flowed on to water the farmlands of what is now western Jeffco and Lakewood.

There are two access points to the Welch Ditch. The eastern-most is a down-and-up-again scramble from the Gateway Trailhead, over a small riparian area that’s protected by an elevated trail, then up the south wall to the trail.

At this time of year (mid-August) the chokecherry harvest is in full swing.

The western access point to the Ditch is from the creek-side trail. The Tunnel 1 Trailhead is the closest parking lot. Head west to the Welch Ditch Bridge, then up a flight of steps, and carry on eastward.

The views are spectacular; you’re directly below Mount Galbraith Open Space Park to the north, while Centennial Cone is to the west.

The Welch Ditch Trail is hiker-only. The half-mile long flume has been totally rebuilt of wood protected by creosote. The trails that stretch on either side of the flume are narrow dirt-and-rock, what one would think of as true hiker trails, not especially difficult, with mild ascents and descents. The climbing area, which lies on the Trail, is very well-defined and protected by low concrete walls. When Miss Mountain Manners was hiking the Trail, there were two groups of climbers who seemed to be enjoying themselves, as they scaled the sheer rock walls.

Below the Welch Ditch Trail, the Gateway Segment Trail stretches along Clear Creek. On the photo, the trail is at the bottom, on the south side of Clear Creek. Access to the Trail at this point is west of the Tunnel 1 Trailhead (at the top of the photo), to the Tough Cuss Bridge. This is a wide, stained concrete trail that can readily accommodate hikers, strollers, and even recumbent bikers.  There are brand new (and full flush) restrooms at both Trailheads, along with 136 parking space at the Gateway Trailhead and 41 parking spaces at the Tunnel 1 Trailhead.

Some fun facts and features about the Gateway Segment (taken from the Fact Sheet, dated 8/18/2021 – download your own copy here):

• This segment of the Peaks to Plains Trail includes approximately 22,140 square feet of sidewalk and 47,520 feet (9 miles) of cable on the pedestrian railing.
• The amount of dirt transported to and from the project site could fill 15 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
• 5,280 feet of railing was installed in the Gateway Segment, a true mile-high project.
• 1,495 linear feet of Type 9 Concrete Barrier was built for this project, to create a safety buffer between Hwy 6 and visitors on the trail. This is more than the height of the Empire State Building.
• The Tough Cuss Bridge weighs a total of 85,950 pounds. It was transported in three segments, and required closing the highway for 12 hours to install.
• 128,000 permeable pavers were installed for the Gateway Trailhead parking lot, creating a permeable surface that allows storm water to seep into the ground.
• Many of the walls on this project were constructed with Redi-Rock Blocks, which are a lot like gigantic Legos. In total the project used about 5,254 of these blocks.

Miss Mountain Manners wants to remind everyone at JeffCo Open Space know how proud we at PLAN Jeffco are of the terrific work that they’re doing. The next time you’re in one of our Parks and you see a JCOS Staffer or Volunteer, introduce yourself and say “thank you”.