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BATCO Newsletter, Spring 1998
BATCO continues to upgrade its Web Site on the Boulder Community Network. Visit us at http:/bcn.boulder.co.us/batco/ and you will find the following menu selections:
If you have information you would like to contribute, format it according to the contributor guidelines found on the site, and e-mail it to Guy Burgess: (gheab@concentric.net).
The Annual Membership Meeting was held October 28, 1997 at the home of Judd and Linda Adams. The Board briefed the membership on accomplishments during the first year and a half of existence, and outlined upcoming challenges and initiatives. The Board of Directors was reelected and at the next Board Meeting officers were selected as follows:
It's time to renew your membership in BATCO as the membership year begins in March:
Please mail your check to Mike Barrow, BATCO Treasurer, 1315 Carnation Circle, Longmont, CO 80503.
In April we will launch our first large scale effort to acquire new members. With funding from Paul Turner (Rock Shox inventor) we will be mailing out information on BATCO to approximately 10,000 people in Boulder County which should bring 200 new members, if we have an average success rate. You can help by recruiting three new members.
From the Editor
Your Board invests hundreds of hours per month to represent your interests as Open Space recreational users at the following monthly meetings and researching issues for:
We also represent your interests to other groups which meet sporadically, such as
And because we hold membership in other organizations, we coordinate with the following:
In a typical month we write from 6 -12 letters to elected officials and other groups about trails.
We do more than go to meetings and write letters: we help build and maintain trails, which actually is FUN. We would like to encourage you to give it a try, you might like it. See the article herein on National Trails Day.
BATCO has been working with a number of groups to define a new set of trails known as East Beech - North Rim - Axelson which would connect with the trails in Boulder Valley Ranch. The proposed trails are in the area bounded by N. Foothills Highway, Neva Road, 55th Street and Boulder Valley Ranch. After two years of discussions and meetings among stakeholders and staff, the Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT) reversed staff's recommendations and voted to close the entire Axelson property on a seasonal basis to protect the raptors. The sudden reversal effectively killing the Axelson Trail was in response to a heavy lobbying effort by the environmental folks, particularly the Boulder County Nature Association. Mike and Suzanne both attended the meeting, and reported to the BATCO Board on the emotional tenor of the meeting. The Board wrote a letter to the OSBT protesting the conduct of certain speakers and outcome of the meeting. Fortunately the East Beech and North Rim trails are still alive, and East Beech will be our designated trail for National Trails Day!
by Megan Davis, BCPOS staff
Do you like being outdoors? Would you enjoy talking with park visitors? Are you a Boulder County resident? If you answered "YES" to these questions, you should consider becoming a Boulder County Park Host this year. This summer, park hosts will have opportunities to tell others why Boulder County parks are so great -- at five premier parks including Hall Ranch, Walker Ranch, Betasso Preserve, Walden Ponds Wildlife Habitat, and Rabbit Mountain Open Space. Hosts are able to describe a park's natural and cultural resources, recreational opportunities, and current resource management projects. Hosts are issued official T-shirts and ballcaps, and are required to work at least six shifts this summer.
Training for park hosts begins soon! Training will take place on Sunday afternoons (March 15-April 5) from 12:00 to 4:30 p.m. Training will include information about Boulder County's recreational opportunities, local flora and fauna, department regulations, current resource management projects, and communicating with park visitors effectively.
For more information and an application, call 441-1645. Application deadline is Friday, March 6.
Volunteer Project June 6th
Mike Barrow
June 6th seems like a long way off but National Trails Day will be upon us before any of us knows it. With every passing year agencies and volunteer organizations begin the planning process a little earlier than the year before. BATCO will again be a National Trails Day co-sponsor with City of Boulder Open Space, Boulder County Open Space, Boulder Off-road Alliance (BOA), and Boulder County Horsemen's Association (BCHA). Last year over 140 volunteers completed 1.6 miles of new trail at Rabbit Mountain. Participating in National Trails Day is one way to show our public land managers that we are serious about trails.
This year's event will take place on the East Beech property between Boulder Valley Ranch and Neva Road. The new 3.5 mile trail will provide opportunities for people to experience the unique natural values of the short grass and mixed grass prairies of this area. It will also provide much-needed connections from neighborhoods to the north and east to Boulder Valley Ranch. A new trail head will be constructed just west of the intersection of Neva Road and 39th Street (and the old access at the Beech Pavilion will be closed to motorized vehicles).
The new trail needs a name! Put on your thinking caps and come up with a name for the trail and trail head. If you are creative you could win a $50 gift certificate. Send your entries to the City of Boulder Open Space Department, Attention Cindy Hansen, 66 South Cherryvale Road, Boulder, CO 80303 or e-mail them to hansenc@ci.boulder.co.us by April 1, 1998 to be considered in the contest.
Approximately 150 volunteers will join the staffs of both City of Boulder Open Space and Boulder County Parks & Open Space in constructing bridges, boardwalks, signs, fences, and gates; building a significant portion of new trail; and finishing some areas of rough cut trail. Pre-registration will be necessary because the event is limited to 150 people; please call Megan Davis (Boulder County Parks & Open Space) at 441-1645 to register. On June 6, plan to sign in around 8:30 at the Beech Pavilion; trail work will take place from 9-1, followed by a barbeque for participants, raptor education program, prizes and trail dedication ceremony.
See you there!
The project is moving along, although not as fast as we would like. Although we did not receive funding from Great Outdoors Colorado (they really liked the project but it didn't fit their funding categories), we applied for and received a $5,000 grant from McStain, the homebuilders. Suzanne attended the luncheon in honor of the recipients and was told by the McStain President that he was so impressed he would have liked to award BATCO the entire amount available. We thuse have a good start on fundraising, but we are only 20% of the way there. We are now seeking additional corporate and individual sponsors. Sponsors will be acknowledged on the map border (good PR for a socially oriented company). We have located two parties who can produce the base map and we are presently negotiating with the County to have access to their data base which shows property ownership. We hope to go to press in the Spring and produce 10,000 maps. If you are interested in helping with the map (or fund raising), contact Judd Adams or Suzanne Weber.
Congratulations Eric! We are fortunate to have Eric's voice representing us on POSAC (Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee - Boulder County) for another two years.
Commissioner Ron Stewart recently expressed interest in learning BATCO's trail connection priorities. As a result, Suzanne, Cathy and Judd formed a task force to just that. The initial meeting produced a four page table of over forty candidates for trail connections throughout the entire county. Most of the proposed trail connections are not particularly long:
However, their impact is collectively quite impressive in moving toward a trail system. The proposed new connectors would constitute 160 new miles of trail, yielding a network of 770 miles of trails. The biggest impact is how the connectors increase the length of trails, as shown in the following table. The "before" column shows the percent of trails in each distance category at this time. "after" shows the impact trail connections will have on cumulative trail length: e.g. there will be four times as many trails which are at least 16 miles long as there are now.
|
Trail Lengths |
||
|
Distance (miles) |
Before |
After |
|
5 or less |
50% |
9% |
|
6-10 |
30% |
26% |
|
11 - 15 |
5% |
22% |
|
16 and longer |
10% |
44% |