Thank you for including me in your presentation. I was a member of Plan Jeffco many, many years ago. Now at age 91 it is good to see the excellent results of all our work. Thank you.
Bruce Bryant, 90, passed away on January 12, 2021, in Boulder, Colorado. Bruce was a passionate supporter of open spaces and natural resources; he was a member of PLAN Jeffco in its early days, as well as a member of the Clear Creek Land Conservancy, which is now part of Colorado Open Lands.
Bruce’s full obituary can be found here.
Memorial gifts in Bruce’s name can be made to Colorado Open Lands, 1546 Cole Blvd. #200 Lakewood, CO 80401 https://coloradoopenlands.org/
Miss Manners says, “It’s winter. The parks are hunkered down.”
The days are short and often cold – time for the earth, its flora and its fauna, to conserve energy and renew. This period of dormancy helps plants rest up for renewed activity in the warmer days ahead. Many animals are in a survival mode, on minimum rations, and should not be disturbed.
When venturing out at this time of year:
* For yourself: dress in layers, stay hydrated, take along a snack, wear water-proof boots.
* For others: keep your distance, announce your presence as appropriate, wear a mask.
* For the parks: stay on the trail. If the trail is muddy, hike in the mud, don’t start a new parallel trail. If conditions permit, try snowshoes or x-country skis.
Alternate Plan B (once in a while): give nature the chance to restore itself. Put on your warmest socks, make yourself some hot chocolate, turn on your favorite music and enjoy the quiet time at home.
Winter by Rick Warr, June 2017
time to stop
hunker down
withdraw
think
reflect
celebrate silence
hibernate
conserve
hug
roast
contemplate
regenerate
sleep
dream
breathe fresh air
enjoy winter
the quiet season
See you in a warmer, healthier 2021 spring. Until then, stay safe!
Miss Manners
Miss Manners wants to apologize to her readers and to Jeffco Open Space for not reporting on the amazing work done in our Open Space Parks during the month of December. Too much Holiday, too many thoughts to process as 2020 winds down to an ignominious end. There’s been so much happening at Open Space, so let’s start 2021 with a recap of last December’s accomplishments and those of the first few days of January!
Apex Park – SWITCH GEARS for Winter Conditions
In the case of snow and ice conditions, a SWITCH GEARS announcement temporarily lifts the directional requirement on Enchanted Forest and Magic Mountain Trails. This will allow mountain bikers to ride up the gut in winter conditions. ALL OTHER TRAIL USE DESIGNATIONS REMAIN IN PLACE. Visitors who wish to be informed of the SWITCH GEARS condition can sign up for text alerts or check the JCOS alerts and closures web page. The SWITCH GEARS is in response to stakeholder feedback collected during the 2020 trail management process.
Clear Creek Canyon
Annual Bighorn Survey: three Natural Resources team members conducted bighorn sheep surveys in Clear Creek Canyon as part of Colorado Parks & Wildlife’s annual sheep survey. Twenty-eight individual sheep were observed on Open Space property.
Tunnel 1 kiosk construction begins this month. Stay tuned for regular updates.
In the Gateway Segment: Check out the latest video update with a special guest appearance by Hank Mifflin. https://youtu.be/O5vBFpqTmZE
Also in the Gateway Segment, the suspension bridge crossing Clear Creek in the Tunnel 1 oxbow is coming together. This 69-foot-long pedestrian bridge is 4-feet wide and will connect visitors from the from the concrete Peaks to Plains Trail to the historic wooden flume of the Welch Ditch.
Crown Hill Park
Crusher Fine Installation: JCOS’ partners at Road & Bridge started to install a crusher fine trail along the eastern side of the Park next to the cemetery. Many visitors were eager to experience the new trail surface, ignoring closure and warning signs, and walking next to heavy equipment while the new material was being applied. However, snow earlier in the month of December put a halt on the crusher fines installation project. The weather improved and work resumed toward the end of the month.
Hiwan Heritage Park
Hiwan from the Hearth: The Hiwan team made an innovative adjustment to Hiwan on the Porch for winter conditions. They have one tour guide on duty from noon – 4:00 p.m., Friday-Sunday. They can greet visitors at the front door and provide basic information about Hiwan and the Hiwan story. If weather permits, they can offer an outside tour. For COVID safety reasons, visitors are not permitted inside the building, but visitors can peer into the front/sitting room, the great room and dining room through open doorways to see the holiday decorated rooms and furnishings.
Mount Galbraith Park
Multi-modal Trailhead Arrival and Congestion Management Pilot: On Tuesday, December 15, the JCOS Management Team approved a pilot project intended to study, and test the feasibility, logistical considerations, technology applications and effectiveness of multi modal trailhead arrival and other congestion management strategies at a new trailhead for Mount Galbraith Park (GAL). JCOS is working on alleviating parking and access concerns for GAL. As a part of this process, JCOS plans to relocate the existing main trailhead to improve visitor experience and visitor safety. Possible multi-modal and congestion management strategies the team will explore for the new trailhead include, but are not limited to: a shuttle, parking reservation system, carpool campaign, time-limited parking, ride-hailing partnerships, etc.
South Valley Park South
Earlier this year, the new South Visitor Center trailhead opened to much joy and appreciation. In December the team applied a concrete stain to reduce the glare from the new, bright white surface and to better blend in with the surrounding landscape. This will be a great addition to the trailhead.
Welcome Center Operations
Beginning December 14, the front doors to the Welcome Center will remain locked throughout the day. To assist any walk-up visitors, Welcome Center staff will remain “On Duty” within the building and accessible by phone. The phone number will be posted on the door during regular business hours. This will allow the staff to meet the needs of our visitors, but free them up to accomplish tasks not easily performed while being at the Welcome Center.
Jeffco Board of Commissioners – Approvals
The Jeffco Commissioners approved Tincup Ridge Park and Internal Land Exchange. This exchange will enable Open Space to develop a new regional park at Tincup Ridge.
The BCC also approved the IGA for the Rocky Mountain Greenway Trail Crossings. This extension links the Greenway from where Phase One currently terminates in Broomfield’s Great Western Open Space, through Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and into Boulder County. The FLAP grant provides funding for trail crossings at Indiana Street and Colorado Highway 128.
Get to Know Our JCOS Staff…
Congratulations to Sean Perkins for passing the Cartegraph Administration Certification test. Passing this test means that Sean understands all the ins-and-outs, tips and best practices for managing our Cartegraph Asset Management Software.
Welcome North Region Coordinator, Dillon McBride, to the Visitor Services Team. Dillon reported to the Visitor Services Team Manager effective December 17.
Stewardship Changes: Kyle Andrews was hired as the Trails Team Senior Specialist, and his main focus will be the Trail Stewardship Team and the Annual Trail Assessments. In January ,the Trails Team will be divided into a Trail Construction Team and a Trail Maintenance Team. This move is intended to have team members focus on trail construction projects associated with Goal 9 of the Conservation Greenprint, while having separate team members focus on trail maintenance (taking care of what we have) and restoration projects to support Goal 7 of the Conservation Greenprint.
Evergreen Famous – Ranger Billy Hall: according to the December 2020 issue of Serenity Magazine, Colorado’s Premier Lifestyle Magazine, Ranger Billy Hall is most 
frequently sighted on the trails in Jeffco Parks. Fun fact: his favorite animal is a squirrel. Even more fun fact: Billy met the photographer while on duty. He introduced himself and checked to make sure she had a current JCOS commercial activity/photography permit. She did have a current permit and she offered to take a photo of Billy. This is how our rangers and volunteers turn a Stewardship Education Contact into positive press.
… and Our Invaluable JCOS Volunteers
Volunteer Training on Stewardship Contacts: On Tuesday, December 8, the Ranger and Volunteer Services Teams hosted more than 100 volunteers and gave them training on how to turn a greeting into a stewardship education contact. This is one of many steps taken to help achieve Goal #1 of the Conservation Greenprint.
Last But Definitely Not Least
We all loathe the unattended poop bag carelessly left along the trail. Some visitors have the best intentions to pick it up and pack it out on their way back. Others assume the poop fairy will pick it up and pack it out for them. Either way, unattended poop bags are aggravating, visually awful, and against park regulations. To get a better understanding of how bad the problem is, rangers elected to track the number of unattended poop bags they collected along our trails and at our trailheads in 2020. The grand total was 2,996. Before you become completely disgusted and depressed at this number, be sure you consider it in context. We have an estimated canine visitation of at least three million dogs annually. Say each one poops and there is an associated bag. Because we are not seeing three million bags, but rather three thousand, it seems the norm is to doo the right thing and pack the bag out and dispose of it properly in a trash receptacle. Now, if we can just get that last, stubborn .1% to doo the right thing….
If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this report, give yourself an ‘atta-person’, and another one to our Jeffco Open Space for the amazing job that they’ve done in just over one month! Keep all this mind when you next visit our Open Space Parks, and let’s give a (socially distanced) high five to the next Ranger or Volunteer you meet when you’re there!
As always, ladies and gents, friends and comrades, stay safe!
Photo credit: Colorado Parks & Wildlife
Miss Mountain Manners has a question for you: have you ever heard of a “cursed rock”? One person who was gifted with a “keepsake rock” from Colorado believes that the rock is cursed. Last July, Colorado Parks and Wildlife received a handwritten letter claiming that a stolen Colorado rock, brought back as a souvenir three years ago, has been responsible for “bad things happening ever since.” The rock was included with the letter.
Whether or not you believe the legend that if you remove rocks from their natural outdoor location you’ll bring bad luck to yourself, it’s a good idea to leave no trace when you’re in the Great Outdoors, and that includes leaving rocks where you found them. You’ll find breath-takingly beautiful rock formations in our Clear Creek Open Space Park, and thankfully, most of the rocks are far too large (and heavy) to end up in anyone’s collection. But even when you find small rocks, look at them, study them, take pleasure in their beauty, and then leave them behind for others to enjoy.
As Colorado Parks & Wildlife tweets, ““The best practice when visiting any park or wilderness is to take only photographs and leave only footprints”. Miss Mountain Manners agrees!
The December 2020 PLAN Jeffco newsletter is available online. Jump over to our Library and see what’s new, or download from the embedded reader below.
Follow us on Twitter: @MannersMountain and @PLANJeffco
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PLANjeffco
It’s so much nicer for all of us when we share the road… 🙂
I always have to be careful on the recumbents but it’s fine.
Here’s another example. https://youtu.be/gSya4lOfKns
Can you recognize where you are? Look through the framing, do you recognize Castle Rock on South Table Open Space Park?
Construction on the Peaks to Plains Trail continues. This location is called the “Gateway Segment”, it’s just west of Golden. Eventually, you will be able to walk from the Library, the History Museum, or even the Golden Visitors Center, head west along the Clear Creek Trail, cross highway 93, and you’ll be on this portion of the Peaks to Plains Trail, inside the Clear Creek Canyon Open Space Park. The portions that are already open are stunning; we anticipate that this segment will be no less so.
Take 5 minutes and enjoy Scott Grossman as he describes the construction that’s happening at the Gateway Segment.
Miss Mountain Manners reminds you to stay safe during this time of COVID, and even when you’re in the Open Space Parks remember to wear your mask and stay 6 feet away from those who are not in your personal “bubble”. Follow Miss Mountain Manners at @MannersMountain
Last year, Jeffco Open Space Parks received approximately 7 million visitors. This year, with the pandemic, we have seen a drastic increase in people finding much-needed stress relief while enjoying our parks. For several years, Rangers and Volunteers have collaborated to host dozens of Share the Trails pop-up events. What’s a pop-up you ask? A pop-up is a focused low-key event where volunteers and staff talk with visitors at the trailheads regarding various pertinent park issues. For example, if a park has an increase in dogs off leash, rangers and volunteers will staff a Love Em’ Leash Em’ table and talk to visitors about dog safety messages (i.e. leashing, picking up waste, providing for dog safety in hot weather, etc). Over the years, pop-ups topics have covered living with wildlife (rattlesnakes, bears, lions, coyotes, etc), share the trails, dog safety and education regarding park management changes. The goal is to educate visitors BEFORE they enter the park and BEFORE they make a mistake. Feedback from visitors has been extremely positive. They seem to really appreciate the one-on-one contact with representatives of Jeffco Open Space.
As I write this article in mid-November, rangers have already responded to more than 1000 calls for service. Some of these calls have been responding to visitor courtesy complaints on North Table Mountain. While rangers routinely patrol the park, a few of our volunteer equestrian Park Patrollers recognized our stretched staff resources and approached me to request they would like to help out by hosting several Share the Trails events at North Table Mountain. These pop-ups generated 550 conversations with our park visitors. Volunteer Frank Blaha, said “often all of us were fully engaged” in conversations with several visitors. He goes on to say, “many people seemed appreciative of us being out, and a few commented it is good to know Rangers and Volunteer Patrollers were working to keep Jeffco Open Space in good shape.” Special thanks go out to Volunteer Patrollers who were instrumental in moving this series of pop-ups along: Dan B., Frank B., Jack M., Jan K., Lydia M. and Sylvan R. Thanks also go out to the many volunteers who dropped by and who spent over 725 hours in 2020 routinely patrolling North Table Mountain Park. I am privileged to work with such an amazing group of volunteers. Jeffco Open Space truly appreciates all they do to support the Jeffco Open Space mission in caring for our parks!
Shaun Howard, Ranger Lead
Jeffco Open Space
303-271-5909
Miss Mountain Manners extends great thanks to Shaun Howard, JCOS Ranger, for sharing the story about these pop-up events. Communication, cooperation…if everyone tried a little harder, imagine what a great world this could be!
Let’s see what’s happening during the month of November at Jeffco Open Space:
Clear Creek Canyon Park – Stair Construction
Timber stair and retaining wall construction continues on the east side of the wooden flume leading up from the P2P Trail. This is going to be an amazing trail experience for our visitors.
Matthews/Winters Park – Fire
At approximately 5:50 a.m. on Monday, November 9th, Jeffco Sheriff’s Office reported Golden Fire was on scene for a small fire in the area of Dakota Ridge Trail north of the intersection with Zorro Trail. It appears the fire was wind and utility structure related as the top of one of the transmission poles was snapped. For visitor safety reasons, the trail was closed north of Zorro Trail through the day and night to allow Xcel Energy access to the area for repairs. The trail re-opened on Tuesday the 10th at noon.
COVID-19 – Jefferson County Dial Status, Moves to Level Red
Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) has been notified by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) that Jefferson County is among the counties that will be moved to Level Red on the state’s Dial Framework, effective Friday, November 20th at 5:00PM. As Governor Polis announced, the state has made some adjustments to the Dial and Level Red, especially as it relates to gatherings and spaces where people congregate. We are awaiting final details on those changes, as well as an associated public health order, and will share more information when available.
Major changes include:
o The Dial adds a sixth level, Purple, and revises Level Red accordingly.
o Individuals at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 remain advised to stay in their residence at all levels of the Dial.
o Remote working is strongly encouraged.
What is not changing:
o Our parks and restrooms will remain open.
o Our group size will remain at 10 and we will continue to monitor JCPH for the current information.
Camping Relaunch – Reservations Live in CivicRec
After a hiatus due to COVID-19, we are excited to bring back camping to our visitors. A diverse team of staff came together to figure out how to best provide camping again. In conjunction with only allowing 4 campers per site, the team decided that providing parking hang tags on site in a lock box was the best option over having visitors trying to print and bring them to their site (as too often they forget). Thank you to Parks Services, OSIT, Rangers, Community Connections and others for your hard work and contributions to the re-launching of camping permits. The first reservable date for White Ranch (Sawmill) and Reynolds Park campsites is November 27, 2020.
Mount Falcon Morrison Trailhead – Temporary Parking Expansion
Things are wrapping up at Mount Falcon Morrison Trailhead this week and we are planning on opening the new, temporary lot to the public this Friday, November 13. We will have 56 more spots to offer visitors and the entry road will no longer allow parking on either side. Big thanks to Road and Bridge, T&E, Scott Timmons and Park Services for making this a reality!
South Table Mountain Park – Carl’s Point
Who is Carl of Carl’s Point? If you’ve visited the scenic overlook on the east side of Basalt Cap Loop, you may already know. The trail sign includes a QR code that transports you to Carl’s story. In short, Carl F. Eiberger helped preserve South Table Mountain (STM) and at least 11 other parks in the Golden/Applewood/Prospect area by donating expert legal services. The point of Carl’s Point is to encourage our visitors to pause and think about what they can do to help preserve places and experiences like Basalt Cap Loop on STM. Mary Eiberger, daughter of Carl Eiberger, visited the site for the first time on Saturday, November 7th. She was accompanied by her husband Tito and their two rescue dogs, Lucky and Shadow.
South Table Mountain Park – Trail Construction
Trail construction on Croc Tooth Trail is in the final stages and will be complete before the end of November. This trail will help connect Carl’s Point to Ancient Palms Trail.
Hildebrand Ranch Park – Water Monitor
New water monitoring devices, called stilling wells, are being installed to keep us in compliance with State of Colorado Water Commission requirements. These new monitoring units will more accurately record water flow and use.
Miss Mountain Manners thanks all the staff and volunteers at JeffCo Open Space for the wonderful work that they do and are continuing to do during this time of COVID. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
