Join Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek for a guided evening walk around Roger’s Grove Nature Area to look for birds and other wildlife in this vital riparian habitat.
We’ll meet at 6pm at the Roger’s Grove pavilion next to the bathrooms. Bring binoculars and your enthusiasm.
The City of Longmont is updating its Wildlife Management Plan that was originally adopted in 2006.
During this meeting, the project team will present a draft of the updated Wildlife Management Plan to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. The meeting will be held at the Sunset Campus from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
Snacks will also be available during the informal open house portion of the meeting. More public meetings will follow.
The City of Longmont has come up with a new website called Engage Longmont where you can provide your input on, among other things, Longmont’s Wildlife Management Plan update. Specifically, the City is asking for stories about how residents interact and coexist with wildlife and where important wildlife habitats exist within the City.
So far, only a handful of people have submitted anything to the site. Register (for free) and add your voice! We know you love and appreciate our City’s wildlife, so let the City know what you’re seeing and where. The more the City hears from YOU, the better the Wildlife Management Plan update will be.
Let your voice be heard! Longmont is updating its Wildlife Management Plan and is holding the first of several public meetings THIS Thursday, March 7th from 6 to 8pm at 7 S. Sunset Street.
We need YOU to come out in support of our wildlife and habitat protection. We literally cannot protect Longmont’s wildlife without you! The meeting will be discussing Longmont’s 150 foot riparian setback that is established in the Longmont Land Development Code. This buffer, which prevents new building within 150 feet of St. Vrain Creek, is crucial to protect species that live, breed, and commute in and along the river corridor as well as to keep our river clean and protect against future floods.
Comments on the Wildlife Management Plan will be used to inform the second phase of the Land Development Code update (dealing with regulations regarding streams, wetlands, riparian areas, and wildlife) as well as standards for development along the river corridor.
If you are absolutely unable to attend the meeting, please send your comments to Dan Wolford via email: dan.wolford@longmont.colorado.gov or via phone: 303-774-4691 and plan to attend the second meeting on Thursday, April 4th.
This Tuesday (8/20/2018), City Council will hear an update on the status of the Resilient St. Vrain flood mitigation project from City staff and a presentation from the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the 205 program project they’re working on with City staff. The City Council meeting will be held at the Civic Center at 350 Kimbark Street at 7pm. The full agenda for the meeting is available here.
The “205 project” refers to section 205 of the Flood Control Act of 1948, as amended. This section allows the Corps to partner with non-Federal entities to design and construct small flood damage reduction projects not previously authorized by Congress and that are not part of a larger project.
The Corps is looking into whether this authority might be used to complete the portion of the Resilient St. Vrain project that stretches from Boston Avenue to the Fairgrounds Pond at Rogers Grove natural area. If determined feasible, the Corps anticipates completing their design in 2019 and beginning construction in 2020.
One concern regarding this stretch is that, while Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek has been working with the City to conduct wildlife, particularly bird, surveys in the area of Rogers Grove and Golden Ponds, 1-2 years of data collected prior to construction is not much. In addition, the City does not currently have the resources to analyze the data collected. It is imperative that the City analyze wildlife survey data collected to determine what species are present and what habitats they are utilizing before construction begins.
One species known to occur in the area of Rogers Grove along St. Vrain Creek is the Bank Swallow. Bank Swallows are the smallest swallows in Colorado and are considered to be a Boulder County Species of Special Concern because they only nest in a handful of places within the County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Longmont must work together to determine how to mitigate the impact of construction on this species and its nesting area, including timing construction so that it does not occur during the nesting season.
Stand With Our St. Vrain Creek will be attending the meeting and speaking during Public Invited To Be Heard to ensure that these points are made before City Council and staff as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Please consider either attending the meeting and speaking in support of the (bolded) points above or contacting City Council and expressing your support for these points.
Thanks for attending the City Council meeting on Tuesday night! Here is the Powerpoint that was shown during the meeting.
Our over-reaching concern is keeping the St. Vrain Creek corridor as natural as possible and we’re concerned that economic development will trump wildlife, ecosystem, and public health and safety. If you’re in agreement, please submit comments to the City including the following points:
General comments:
+ Biological surveys & studies are needed to identify habitat and species along the creek corridor and to designate sensitive areas for habitat and species protection. We need data/science including expert professional opinions in order to plan well.
Specific to the Blueprint Plan for Development: All development in Longmont is required to be based on the 3-legged stool (Environment, Social, and Economic) criteria. The Blueprint is primarily an economic plan.
+The City is updating our Land Use Code, which won’t be ready for City Council until 2018. The blueprint could require major revisions, so what’s the rush with bringing it forward now for City Council consideration on Sept. 26, 2017???
+This plan is premature—the City does not currently have flood mitigation plans finalized for west of the railroad crossing (east of Sunset/Isaak Walton) nor who will pay for this…
+Building in the flood plain (even with mitigation) is unwise. There have been 11 flood events in this corridor in the last 100 years. It’s logical there will be another flood in our lifetime.
+The Longmont Comprehensive Plan needs to be revised to reflect post-2013 flood realities relative to this corridor. To do otherwise puts people & property in harm’s way & puts taxpayers on-the-hook in terms of $$ for recovery.
+The City must hold firm to the 150-foot riparian setback as designated in the City’s Land Development Standards for any and all proposed new OR re-development along creek. Especially essential is not allowing developers to be granted the variances they are certain to request.
+We must preserve St. Vrain Creek as a wildlife movement corridor and as a natural area by not allowing lighting along the path (wildlife moves at night) & limiting noise (i.e. Lefthand Brewery’s designs to expand with decks, more music etc.).
+We must preserve as many mature trees as is possible for creek health (cooling). Riparian and aquatic habitat including several rare and native fish in our creek have been identified by CPW as having “immense conservation value to the State of Colorado.”
+Development along our St. Vrain corridor is a HUGE game changer for the residents of Longmont. Therefore, much more public participation is needed. Perhaps a vote of the people is in order??
