In April, 1997, the Boulder County Board of Commissioners retained The Public Information Corporation of Littleton, Colorado, to conduct a telephone survey of voting-age residents of the county about issues centering on the Boulder County open space program. In all, 662 interviews were conducted between April 28 and May 9,1997.

Initially 405 interviews that were representative of the demographic characteristics of residents across the county were conducted. Then, 257 extra interviews were conducted to make sure that Broomfield, Lafayette, Longmont and Louisville -- and a grouping made up of other towns plus unincorporated areas -- each had 100 or more interviews. (The City of Boulder already had more than 100.)

Only the 405-interview sampling was used in determining the confidence factor. It is 4.8 percent or better,+ or - . This Executive Summary presents what we believe to be the highlights of a more expansive analysis that has been presented to the Commissioners.

As this table indicates, there was a modest balance on the "right direction" side. It also shows an urban-versus-rural disparity, since all of the cities and towns that received 100 or more interviews weighed in mostly on the "right direction" side, but with "other Boulder," which includes unincorporated areas and smaller communities, it was the other way around.

A caveat is in order. While respondents had been informed that the survey was "sponsored by Boulder County," the question, which was carried forward from an earlier survey, did not suggest to respondents that responses ought to be limited to just county government issues.

The following table presents the result of an open-ended question that asked: "In general, what do you consider to be the one most important issue facing Boulder County today?"

We were not surprised that growth-related concerns emerged as the most important issue facing Boulder County today, but we were very surprised at the proportions of that response category - 46 percent. Growth concerns were consistent across the county, with Longmont, at 52 percent, and Broomfield, at 51 percent, most concerned among the cities and towns. However, only Lafayette, whose citizens mentioned growth-related issues 39 percent, was relatively less concerned, but still it's a matter of "compared with what?" Taken by itself 39 percent still indicates a powerful issue.

Two surface transportation-related response categories were combined, and at 9 percent they became the second most important issue to emerge. Eight percent of respondents mentioned traffic congestion and/or a need for more or better transportation infrastructure, principally streets and highways, and another one percent voiced concerns about the condition of existing streets and highways.

Two public school-related categories, totaling 8 percent were close behind. Of those, 6 percent made comments about perceived inadequacy of quality of education or concern that quality might not be maintained, and the other 2 percent called for more money for the public schools and/or more buildings and smaller classes.

Respondents were asked to put themselves in the places of members of the Boulder County Board of Commissioners and indicate what one problem they would solve or change they would make having to do with Boulder County open space. The following response categories emerged:

"It's on the right track" summarizes the strongest message from respondents when they were offered a chance to suggest changes or mention problems with the Boulder County open space program. Not only did 44 percent offer positive comments, but another 23 percent did not comment at all. "No comment" means different things with different questions, but in this case we believe that it is another positive.

Of those who did suggest changes or perceive problems, "stop the open space property acquisitions" was most prominent, at 7 percent. Another 3 percent want to build facilities on open space (usually golf courses). Another 5 percent mentioned dogs, but there isn't much guidance there since 3 percent want to accommodate dogs, usually un-leashed, in open space areas and 2 percent want to either ban dogs or enforce the leash law much more strictly.

Responses to a question that asked "to what degree you approve or disapprove of the Boulder County open space program," are presented on the following table:

Previous questions certainly indicated that it was so, but as this table so graphically indicates there is a phenomenally high level of approval of the Boulder County open space program. Not only do 77 percent of respondents indicate some degree of approval, but of those 50 percent registered strong approval.

In our analyses we often compare the extremes of the responses that are offered by interviews in order to gauge the depth, in addition to the breadth, of approval or non-approval. In this case it's an overwhelming positive-to-negative 50-to-3 percent ratio.

Moreover, the strong approval is countywide. The worst it got was a 66 percent approval rating in unincorporated Boulder County. Strongest support geographically was from City of Boulder residents, at 85 percent, of which 59 percent said "approve strongly."

Survey respondents were asked how important each of 11 activities and values attendant to Boulder County open space areas were to them personally. The activities and values listed, and how they were rated in the collective opinion of county voting-age residents, are shown on the following table:

Protecting habitat for wildlife emerged as the most important open space value or activity in the collective judgment of respondents. Not only was there a 96 percent "important" response, but of those 75 percent said it is "very important."

Hiking was close behind at 93 percent. However, it was back a bit among those who said "very important" - 64 percent. Preserving agricultural lands from development was the third category to reach the 90 percent "important" level.

The least-supported activity or value was horseback riding, at 57 percent, and only 15 percent felt that it was "very important.

Boulder citizens who took part in interviews were presented with five policy decisions that Boulder County may consider for its open space program. They were asked how important they feel the changes would be in the face of rapid population growth and open space usage. The options, and how respondents collectively felt about them, are presented in the following table:

All of the open space area management options that were described received high levels of approval. While requiring users to stay on trails in sensitive areas received the strongest assessment of importance, at 94 percent -with a particularly impressive "very important* response by 76 percent of those - the other four concepts all exceeded 82 percent on the "important" scale.

Respondents were informed that state law requires private and public landowners to control noxious weed species. Several control methods were described, followed by the statement that "some people believe that the County should not use chemical herbicides at all, while others believe that careful use of herbicides with monitoring is the only effective way to fight these weeds." Respondents then were asked about the acceptability of use of herbicides. The following table presents the results:

While 77 percent of county wide respondents accept selective use of herbicides to some degree, we believe that the large 47 percent "somewhat acceptable" factor within the77 percent is a clear caution that two of the terms used in the question, "selective" and "careful," should be taken most seriously by county employees.

A pair of questions asked respondents how resources should be used if (1) they had to choose between building more trails, or buying more property to add to the open space system and (2) if they had to choose between improving the ecological condition of the property, such as restoring wetlands or native prairie grasslands, or buying more property to add to the open space system. The responses to the first "tradeoff question were:

The responses to the second "tradeoff* question were:

The results of the two "tradeoff" questions clearly indicate that Boulder County voting-age residents are willing to forego recreational amenities such as trails in the interest of purchasing more property, but on the other hand if it came to a choice they would rather improve the ecological condition of existing property than buy more property.

A series of questions asked whether respondents own dogs, mountain bikes or horses, and if so, if they are taken to County open space areas. These patterns are summarized in the following table:

A "screening" question was posed to determine whether respondents and members of their households visit Boulder County opens space areas. Then, the 90 percent who said they do were asked to be more specific. A list of activities was read, and respondents were asked how often they personally engage in each. The results follow

Hiking, which included walking, was far and away the most popular of the nine activities presented, with 93 percent indicating that they take part at least occasionally.

On the other hand, 88 percent said they never ride horses in County open space areas, and 66 percent said they never walk dogs there. More than half said they never run or jog, or mountain bike, in those areas.

Respondents were asked to relate their worst experience while on County open space trails. The most frequent complaints, by 16 percent, concerned dogs. Usually these were about dogs off leash, although some said they felt threatened by even leashed dogs. Complaints about mountain bikers were next, at 7 percent, followed by statements that there are too many people using open space, 6 percent:, complaints about other peoples' behavior, such as littering, drinking and rude behavior, 5 percent; and encounters with dog and horse droppings, 4 percent.