MASTER PLAN OUR LANDS. FIRST PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT OUR LEGACY. WINDOW SUMMARY OUR FUTURE.

May 7, 2018 GET INVOLVED AT OSMPMasterPlan.org Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks System Overview TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary iii Introduction to the First Public Engagement Window iv Highlights of What We Heard: Draft Focus Areas vi Next Steps: Second Public Engagement Window viii How We Listened: January 22 to March 30, 2018 2 Overview of First Public Engagement Window 2 Moving Towards Inclusion 7 A Description of Engagement Efforts 9 Digital and Traditional Written Opportunities 9 Master Plan Open House 11 Imagina (Imagine) Open Space 13 Micro-engagements around the Community 15 Youth Opportunities Advisory Board (YOAB) Partnership 17 What We Heard 20 System Overview Report: A Foundation of Information and Inquiry 21 Values: Why OSMP is Important 23 Draft Focus Areas: Guiding Future OSMP Management 29 Focus Area 1: Ecosystem Health 31 Focus Area 2: Resilience to Environmental Change 35 Focus Area 3: Enjoyment and Recreation Management 39 Focus Area 4: Community Connections and Inclusion 43 Focus Area 5: Financial Sustainability 47 Process Summary and Next Steps 52 Second Engagement Window 53 Incorporating Lessons Learned from First Engagement Window 55 Looking Ahead 57 APPENDICES 59 Appendix A: Compendium of Public Comments Appendix B: Public Comments Received Via Email Appendix C: Planning for Inclusion: A Checklist

Boulder OSMP Master Plan Cover Photo: Field with flowers. ii First Public Engagement Window Summary ©Ann G. Duncan TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

To kick off the first phase of developing the City of Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Master Plan, city staff conducted the first of five planned engagement windows to learn about our community’s values, hopes and concerns. The findings described in this document summarize what we heard during this first window, which was open from January 22 through March 30, 2018.

Feedback was used to develop five draft focus areas – or management themes – to guide OSMP policy and direction over the next five to ten years, with an eye to the next 50:

ECOSYSTEM HEALTH: Using the best available science, we protect healthy ecosystems and mend those we have impaired.

RESILIENCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: By helping nature endure and thrive, we ourselves endure and thrive.

ENJOYMENT AND RECREATION MANAGEMENT: We are united by our enjoyment of nature and our obligation to protect it.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS AND INCLUSION: Together, we build a community of stewards and seek to find our place in open space.

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILTY: Preserving our legacy land system requires preparing for the future.

Over the next few months, these focus areas will be refined and confirmed through additional engagement with the public (May 7 through May 20, 2018) and the Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT), along with approval from the Boulder City Council in the months ahead.

Boulder OSMP Master Plan First Public Engagement Window Summary iii Executive Summary Introduction to the First Public Engagement Window The purpose of the first window of engagement was to share information about the community’s 45,000-acre open space system and gather feedback to support development of master plan focus areas. To develop and evaluate the approach to early engagement, city staff worked with the OSMP Master Plan Process Committee, made up of two City Council members (Aaron Brockett and Mary Young) and two members of OSBT (Curt Brown and Tom Isaacson).

Two broad goals informed engagement:

1. Listen well and inclusively to broaden our connection with the community; and 2. Share information and communicate clearly. To achieve those goals, city staff engaged about 2,000 people through an innovative mix of master plan events and outreach efforts called “micro-engagements” around the city. Through these micro-engagements, staff and partners reached a diverse cross-section of the community at places such as