As Colorado’s population grew more than 30 percent in 10 years, state residents worried that we would lose our vistas, open spaces, recreation opportunities and wildlife habitat. With the growth – not just urban sprawl but also the spread of rural 35-acre ranchettes – came an alarming loss of farm and ranch land and a fragmentation of natural ecosystems.
Faced with such challenges, land trusts, conservation groups, local governments and state agencies scrambled to protect key parcels of undeveloped land. But the efforts were disjointed. There’s no easy way to tell what land has been preserved and how much more should be protected. Colorado needs more information, particularly better maps, so it can target its limited funds on urgent projects.
Five years ago, the Governor’s Commission on Saving Open Spaces, Farms and Ranches recommended several ways of best preserving the state’s open spaces. High on the list: creation of new tools to understand what still needs to be done.
That effort finally will get underway this summer.
In May, Gov. Bill Owens asked the board of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), the state unit funded by the Colorado Lottery, to take a statewide inventory of protected lands, including wildlife habitat, watersheds and agricultural lands. Last week, GOCO’s board agreed to get started. At its heart, the project involves creating a map with layers of up-to-date resource and land ownership information.
GOCO is ideally suited for the task, as it regularly sees grant applications and needs assessments from state agencies, local governments and conservation groups. Since its creation in 1992, GOCO has awarded more than $236 million in grants to preserve wildlife habitat, protect open spaces, fund state parks (including several new ones) and help communities create recreation facilities such as parks and ball fields.
Among other things, the map could show where efforts could be combined or coordinated, such as linking trails or preserving wildlife migration corridors.
But the work will be incomplete unless GOCO also looks at future needs. The map should show what lands still need protection. The project should layer onto the open-space map computer data showing the locations of Colorado’s fastest growing communities, vulnerable watersheds and at-risk wildlife habitat. Such a detailed display will show vividly the scope of our challenge.
