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Save Our Swallows

Bank Swallow at Roger’s Grove colony. Photo by Jamie Simo.

Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek, a citizen action group based in Longmont and dedicated to protecting our riparian areas from damaging development, is hosting 2 Save Our Swallows events at Roger’s Grove Nature Area in Longmont on Sunday, July 24th from 9am to 11am and Sunday, September 4th from 9am to 11am.

Join us at the picnic pavilion next to the bathrooms to learn more about Bank Swallows, specifically those nesting at Roger’s Grove, the only nesting colony on Longmont-protected land. We’ll also have spotting scopes available for anyone who’d like to make the short walk to view the birds before they migrate south for the winter.

Bank Swallows have very specific nesting habitat requirements. Mainly due to loss of that habitat as a result of erosion and flood control projects, they are a rare and declining species nation-wide. There are only a handful of known colonies within Boulder County and the City of Longmont lists them as a species of concern in its Wildlife Management Plan.

Stand is concerned about the future of the Roger’s Grove colony because preliminary plans for the portion of Longmont’s Resilient St. Vrain flood mitigation project (RSVP) in the vicinity of Roger’s Grove call for construction of a split flow channel through the swallows’ nesting bank. Thankfully, these plans have not yet been finalized and funding for that stretch of the St. Vrain has not yet been secured, meaning there’s still time for these plans to be changed.

To show community support for protecting the Bank Swallows, we will also have postcards available at the pavilion for people to sign asking the City to to bypass the swallows’ nesting area. Stand will be presenting all of the postcards we receive to City Council within the next couple of months.

If you’d like to sign a postcard, but are unable to attend either event, contact Shari Malloy at standwithstvraincreek@gmail.com

Letter to the editor: Local advocacy group expresses environmental concerns about Rivertown development annexation–Longmont Leader 3/19/2022

https://www.longmontleader.com/letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-local-advocacy-group-expresses-environmental-concerns-about-rivertown-development-annexation-5170221?utm_source=Email_Share&utm_medium=Email_Share&utm_campaign=Email_Share

Letter-to-the-editor_-Local-advocacy-group-expresses-environmental-concerns-about-Rivertown-development-annexation-The-Longmont-Leader

URGENT: Advisory Panel on Development of the St. Vrain River Corridor

Please attend this second meeting of an advisory panel to continue discussion of future development of the St. Vrain river corridor so that the process is as transparent as possible. The meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 15th from 8:30am to 11:30am at the Longmont Museum. 

The agenda is below:

Agenda

8:30 Opening remarks (Council Member Waters)
 Reminder of why we are here – create a transformational vision for the St. Vrain Corridor
 Where we left off last time
 For today’s meeting – look at your ideas in a visual representation, provide feedback and create narratives on specific sections
 For the process – second of three meetings (first was brainstorming), second is the graphic representation of the brainstorming session and narrative writing, third meeting is action planning (online platform congruent)

9:00 Present Visual Representation of Brainstorming from 1/11/19
Daniel Tal, DHM Designs
 What elements do you love?
 What do we need to know to be successful?

10:15 Where we are going (small group narrative writing)
At your tables, consider what you have heard today, and discuss what is possible for the future. Write a brief narrative statement on the assigned graphic corridor.
Consider:
 What are the greatest possibilities as we continue river restoration and envision future development along the river corridor?
 How do we preserve the natural beauty and important environmental qualities of the river?
 How do we attract a stronger presence of higher education in Longmont along the river corridor?
 What opportunities do we not want to miss given the Opportunity Zone in which part of this corridor sits?

11:00 Share narrative of ideas and next steps
Meeting #3 – Action planning – what is it going to take from Longmont to realize it? What does the
Council need to do to open the gates? What would it take for you to commit to making this happen?
Parallel Community Involvement Process – take graphic to community for comment (Cinco de Mayo,
Rhythm on the River, online engagement)

Your Accomplishments

Last year a member of Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek made us aware that the Osprey nest platform on N 75th Street was threatened by a new housing development. Construction equipment rolled by directly beneath the nest platform even after the birds had returned from migration, no doubt the cause of the nest’s failure last year.

Thanks to your efforts in contacting Boulder County’s commissioners and Longmont officials, the nest platform is being moved to a more suitable site!