Growing the Stewardship Ethic: 35 Years of Boulder County Open Space

Boulder County is a very special place with abundant natural beauty and biodiversity. This year Boulder County Parks and Open Space is celebrating its 35th Anniversary. We're grateful to those who initiated this effort to preserve and protect important lands and to the many who have supported our program over these years. We are dedicated to working with the community to solidify a stewardship ethic for the lands that have been preserved.

Boulder County started preserving land in the 1970s. Big ranches were purchased beginning in 1976, including the 775-acre Betasso Preserve west of Boulder and the 2566-acre Walker Ranch on Flagstaff Road. The first purchase on the plains occurred in 1979 with the Rock Creek Farm purchase between Lafayette, Louisville and Broomfield.

Since then the County has preserved about 1,000 properties that range in size from less than an acre to the 4,923-acre Heil Valley Ranch. When we add up the numbers, the program has preserved approximately 94,000 acres of land, owning 59,000 acres outright and another 35,000 acres that are protected from development by conservation easements. About 40,500 acres of preserved land is located in the foothills and mountains and about 53,500 acres on the plains.

We're committed to continuing stewardship of the land and to continuing engagement of the people who live here in maintaining this wonderful preserved land. We invite you to join us in building on the efforts of those visionary citizens that worked to create our program more than 35 years ago, and all those who have helped over the years. If you want to be involved, we're ready to find a meaning place for you to help.

For more information, visit us at www.BoulderCountOpenSpace.org or email POSinfo@bouldercounty.org.

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