The Environmental Resources Map depicts individual sites--critical wildlife habitats, rare plant sites, plant communities of special concern and wetlands--that need protection. Ecologists consider this a "fine filter" level of protection.
The fields of landscape ecology and conservation biology have provided a new perspective for formulating land conservation plans. They point towards moving beyond protecting small individual sites and focusing on halting habitat fragmentation -- the cumulative affects of development, roads, trails and an overall increased human presence -- at the landscape scale. Protection at this scale is considered the "coarse filter".
Even with the current level of public lands in the County, along with strong open space programs, there are animal and plant community shifts occurring that are the result of trying to blend together human and natural landscapes. Extirpated and declining animal species tend to be wide-ranging, ecologically specialized or sensitive to humans. New or increasing species are habitat generalists and compatible with human landscapes.
What currently need recognition and protection are the largest remaining relatively natural, restorable or agricultural landscapes that function as good wildlife habitat and plant communities. This appears to be the best course of action for maintaining wide-ranging animal species, native plant communities and natural ecological processes while limiting adverse impacts from developing landscapes such as loss of human-sensitive species and increases in exotics and habitat generalists. A strategy that identifies the biologically richest sites, protects them with adequate buffers, and establishes corridors of connectivity should be the framework for an ecosystem management plan. Decisions concerning new housing development, land and easement purchases, trails and forest management can then be made within this framework.
ER 8.01 The County shall encourage the removal of development rights from ECAs through transfer, donation, acquisition or trade.
ER 8.02 Development within ECAs shall be located and designed to minimize impacts on the flora and fauna of the area.
ER 8.03 Development outside of ECAs shall be located and designed to minimize impacts on ECAs and connectivity between ECAs.
ER 8.04 The County will encourage and participate with the various public and private owners in the development of coordinated management plans to conserve, protect or restore the values of ECAs.
ER 8.05 Management of ECAs shall encourage use or mimicry of natural processes, maintenance or reintroduction of native species, restoration of degraded plant communities, elimination of undesirable exotic species, minimization human impacts, and development of long-term ecological monitoring programs.
ER 8.06 The County will work with appropriate management agencies and property owners to protect or restore riparian areas.
ER 8.07 The County shall work toward minimizing human impacts to riparian ecosystems from development, roads and trails.
ER 8.08 The County will work with appropriate entities to ensure suitable minimum and maximum stream flows that maintain channel morphology, support hydrologically connected wetlands and perpetuate species, both plant and animal, dependent on riparian ecosystems.
ER 8.09 Land use proposals which could have adverse impacts to riparian ecosystems must submit a report and site plan detailing such impacts. Although examined on a case-by-case basis, the County will encourage avoidance of riparian ecosystems. Where impacts are unavoidable, the County shall require appropriate mitigation.
ER 8.10 Management of riparian areas shall encourage use or mimicry of natural processes, maintenance or reintroduction of native species, restoration of degraded plant communities, elimination of undesirable exotic species, minimization of human impacts, and development of long-term ecological monitoring programs.
NH 5.01 The County recognizes the wildland urban interface as an area particularly at risk to wildland fires or wildfires.
NH 5.02 Fire should be recognized as a natural and/or human-caused occurrence with certain benefits to the ecosystem. The County should strive towards balancing the natural processes of the ecosystem with development concerns so that residents may co-exist in a fire dependent ecosystem.
NH. 5.03 Development/site plan reviews in areas identified to be at risk of wildfires should address site location, building construction and design, landscaping/defensible space/fuel management, access and water availability. These factors should be analyzed from the standpoint that wildfires may present a hazard to development and/or development may present an ignition hazard to the forest.
NH 5.04 Boulder County should continue to encourage interjurisdictional and interagency cooperation to further the goals of protection of life and property from wildfires. The Boulder County Wildfire Mitigation Group should continue to work cooperatively to develop and implement programs to reduce the hazard of wildfire. This should include the following subject areas: public education and awareness, fuel reduction and prescribed burn programs, ecosystem/vegetation management, Wildfire Hazard Identification and Mitigation System, (WHIMS), codes and regulations, and pre-suppression.
NH 5.05 Boulder County should be surveyed and mapped to locate the extent of wildfire hazards and areas at risk using WHIMS.
NH 5.06 Accepted methods of forest land ecosystem management should be used to reduce all severe wildfire hazard areas to a low or moderate rating, particularly in those areas inhabited with human development as defined by WHIMS.
NH 5.07 The County should encourage private and public landowners to manage their forests to preserve the forests' ecosystem processes by developing and maintaining a diversity of species, ages, and stand densities to serve as a natural deterrent to pest and fire outbreaks. The County should implement measures to guard against the danger of fire in developments within and adjacent to forests or grasslands.
NH 5.08 The County should continue to work in partnership with the local fire protection districts and departments in improving fire protection services to address the increasing concerns of wildfire and the increase in development in the mountainous areas of the County.
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