boulder valley ranch open space – Boulder County Horse Association

On the Trails: What’s New!

Archives-Trails History / April 25, 2021

By Randy Winter, BCHA Trail Advisor I recently met with City of Boulder Open Space staff on a variety of topics. We covered a lot of ground—so to speak. Here is a April update on trails around Boulder County. Hall Ranch Thanks to trail maintenance crews, it’s smooth sailing into the horse trailer parking area at the Hall Ranch in Lyons. That huge hole that rocked your trailer has been fixed. Monarch Trailhead You no longer have to hassle with those spring loaded gates. The car gates have been unlocked so you can now safely pass through on or off your horse without getting slapped in the butt! There is just a chain over a post, but please be sure to CLOSE the gate! Lagerman Preserve Plans are in the works for a 6 to 8 horse trailer lot expansion at the Lagerman Preserve in Longmont. Funding still needs to be acquired as money was diverted due to the Heil Ranch fire last year. Boulder Valley Ranch I brought up the issue of addressing the North TSA (Trail Study Area) Plan recommendations to add or update horse trailer parking at three access points to Boulder Valley Ranch. These would include the: Degge trail Eagle trail Left Hand trail [divider style=”solid” color=”#cccccc” opacity=”1″ icon_color=”#666666″ icon_size=”15″ placement=”equal”]It is important that we hear from you, so BCHA can understand how much this is wanted by our horse riding community. Please send me an e-mail today. (e-mail link)[divider style=”solid” color=”#cccccc” opacity=”1″ icon_color=”#666666″ icon_size=”15″ placement=”equal”] Left Hand Trail If you have […]

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Gunbarrel Hill Open Space

What is the future of our open space properties? By Linda Parks I had the opportunity to attend the first Gunbarrel Hill Open Space meeting in January hosted by Boulder Open Space and Mountain Park (OSMP) where OSMP has started asking for the community’s help in realizing the vision of this open space (many of us who ride this area may know it as Heatherwood). This area currently appears to be a healthy and balanced wildlife habitat, it is also an enjoyable recreational area for hikes and horseback riding. The Gunbarrel Hill open space is bordered west to east by 75th and 95th Streets, and north to south from Lookout Road to the White Rocks area. I affords one with spectacular views of the front range and the snow capped Longs Peak, along with rolling grasslands, songbirds and great footing for a lovely canter. The evening opened with an informative presentation about the history of the area, the work OSMP did on restoring it, and the ecosystem it created along the way. The reseeding of grasses to restore the fields (one of the longest prairie restoration projects in OSMP’s history), has assisted in the return of ground nesting birds, like the endangered grasshopper sparrow, which will only nest in healthy prairie grassland, to a species of butterfly that will only lay its eggs on two types of grass, and our beautiful meadowlarks. After the presentations concluded there was a Q + A period. I voiced my concerns to OSMP and asked if they had a defined plan to maintain the prairie