Development in Sensitive Bird Areas in Fountain Creek Regional Park (FCRP), El Paso County
Tyler Stuart
COBirders,
El Paso County Parks has proposed to develop a number of the natural areas within Fountain Creek Regional Park (FCRP). A public meeting on April 28, 2016 presented the plans, which include: dog park in sensitive riparian habitat, singletrack mountain biking trails, disc golf course, amphitheater, new athletic field, playgrounds, a creekside “beach” recreation area in an isolated riparian grove, new parking lots, creek realignment through Area 7 (Hansen Natural Area), and additional “forest management” areas. A number of these development plans will adversely affect important bird and wildlife habitat.
Have you birded FCRP or heard about its importance to birds and other wildlife? This email is to request that you send quickly to park personnel your impressions and comments regarding the proposed development plan. We need a substantial response, as they don’t seem to appreciate the importance of undisturbed habitat, both canopy and understory, in a major riparian corridor. The development plan is available at http://adm.elpasoco.com/CommunityServices/planning/Pages/default.aspx or at http://adm.elpasoco.com/CommunityServices/planning/Pages/FountainCreekRegionalParkPlanning.aspx. Figure 36 on page 42 shows the scale of proposed development.
The window to respond is narrow before the County Park Commissioners will review the proposed development plan. The deadline for public comments is MAY 19, but we need momentum before then so that they aren’t thinking that they have a green light. We offer some ideas to highlight below, in your words. In particular, we focus on two specific developments that we think will most significantly compromise habitat for bird residents and migrants.
Summary of key points:
· Proposed location for dog park would damage sensitive primary habitat and fragment the corridor
· Other proposed management areas are primary cottonwood groves that don’t need management.
· “Management” invariably disturbs important understory elements of riparian corridor
First, a dog park is planned for the forested area known as “Mile Marker 18” or “Area 2,” abutting “The Spa.” The dog park will cover the habitat between the creek and the adjacent private land to the east, extending from the Willow Springs Ponds south to the Mile 18 marker (6 acres). This area hosts some of the richest bird life in the regional park, especially during migration. It is also a region where species seek refuge and nest away from the regional trail. A dog park, with a network of trails, tree removal, understory and grass degradation (e.g., see Bear Creek dog park), bathrooms, and expanded parking would severely compromise the quality of habitat. We think that this is a priority. We are not against a dog park, but it should not be in this valuable habitat and in the floodplain. They can re-organize proposed uses outside of the floodplain, or acquire land adjacent to the park that is already compromised.
Second, the development plan targets several primary riparian tree clusters for “forest management.” The park planners indicated that this involves the removal of dead cottonwoods, which are a major resource for nesting birds and other wildlife. For example, cottonwood groves such as the proposed “creekside recreation area” (“Area 6”) currently are relatively undisturbed, remote, primary cottonwood groves. Such management invariably damages understory. Similarly, a proposed realignment of the entire creek would transect Area 7, at the south end of the regional park.
Amazingly, none of the $1.65 million planned for park development has been allotted toward restoring or reclaiming wildlife habitat, or for controlling invasive species.
We ask that you write an email to share the importance of maintaining Fountain Creek’s riparian corridor (canopy and understory) and avoiding development in sensitive areas. We hope that an overwhelming response from the birding community will be hard for the county planners to ignore. Describe what the park means to you, how often you visit, where you live, and how far you travel to visit. If you would like to highlight some of your experiences or bird sightings in the park, that’s great, too! In particular, a priority is not turning key parts of Area 2 into a dog park, and further fragmenting the riparian corridor.
At your soonest convenience, please send your comments to Mr. Ross Williams, Park Planner, at RossWi...@elpasoco.com. It is good to be as specific as you can, if even in a short message.
Also, please also forward to us the email you send to Mr. Williams so that we can record the scale of response from the birding community. And feel free to contact us with any questions.
Tyler Stuart
Steve Getty
Colorado Springs, CO
FCRP Bird Count Leaders
Marie Hoerner
- National Geographic's Guide to Birding Hot Spots of the United States lists Fountain Creek Regional Park as one of only 13 hot spots they chose to highlight in the entire state of Colorado. The park is also the only hot spot listed for El Paso County.
- eBird (a citizen science project aimed at documenting bird distributions and movements) reports the second highest avian diversity of any site in El Paso County at Fountain Creek Regional Park. The only site with higher avian diversity is the privately owned Chico Basin Ranch.
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