Archives-Advocacy & public lands

by Suzanne Webel The City of Boulder has just completed its West Trail Study Area process, having convened a new group of stakeholders to determine the fate of existing trails, future trails, and off-trail use of this very large area. Popular trails in the block include the Mesa Trail, South Boulder Creek Trail, Shanahan Ridge, Bear Canyon, Flagstaff, Chautauqua, Mt Sanitas, Wonderland Lake, and Foothills… all the Mountain Parks Trails as well as the foothills trails. Unfortunately for horse people, we gave up a lot of our equestrian habitat in the spirit of cooperation and got very little in exchange. You can learn more about this project, and which trails are open to horses. It is estimated that the West TSA process entailed over 20 hours a month per person for more than a year. If every volunteer on the committee put in the same amount of time, that came to almost 3,500 hours of citizens’ time spent on determining the fate of trails west of Broadway. If staff and the alternate(s)’ time is counted, you can more than double that time, to, say, 7,000 hours. Give it a time-value-of-money of $25 an hour, throw in the consultant’s fees, and we got a project “worth” around a quarter of a million bucks. Was it worth it? Nope.  We did achieve two extraordinary things:  after a full year of negotiations and discussions, the entire Community Collaborative Group and the Open Space Board of Trustees reached consensus on the horse recommendations.  However, in its infinite wisdom and very […]

From The Horse Channel: Edited Press Release Historic flooding across Colorado has destroyed thousands of homes and farms. Thousands of horses have been displaced or are stranded across 4,500 square-miles of flood-ravaged terrain. This area is densely populated with horses, including many large breeding and training facilities all along the Front Range. Hay and feed are being airlifted to hundreds of stranded farm owners and delivered to hundreds more in dire need of feed for their horses. Recovery from a disaster of this magnitude will be arduous and ongoing, but not impossible. When the flooding stops, the recovery is only beginning. The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) is calling on the equestrian community to aid fellow horse owners by donating to the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund. With the support of USEF CEO John Long, the USEF asks that equestrians, equestrian fans, and all people who share a love for horses make a donation to the USEF Equine Disaster Relief Fund. These recent storms have struck the heart of Colorado’s horse country and have made the cost of relocating, feeding, and caring for horses overwhelming. With the support of the community, the fund will help make sure horses are not overlooked, forgotten, or abandoned, and help to relieve the burden of affected horse owners and caretakers in this, and in future, times of crisis. This fund was established with the goal of delivering aid in the most effective manner possible. “It is important to understand this fund is a dollar in and a dollar out,” says