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A new cooperative of land managers has been awarded a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for the Northern Colorado Big Game Critical Winter Range Restoration Project. This project aims at long-term control of invasive winter annual grasses by treating 4,385-acres of cheatgrass and feral rye across seven open space properties managed by Larimer County Natural Resources, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas, Boulder County Parks and Open Space, and Jefferson County Open Space.
The open spaces include Cherokee State Wildlife Area, Eagles Nest, Coyote Ridge Natural Area, Devil’s Backbone, Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, Hall Ranch, and Matthews/Winters Park. As a result of this project, vegetation communities on these lands will become more resistant and resilient to future disturbances, such as wildfire and drought, and provide critical habitat for native plants and wildlife. The properties are in critical elk and mule deer winter range and concentration areas. The restoration of cheatgrass and feral rye-infested habitat is by far the best way to improve overall native plant diversity and cover, that in turn provides critical habitat for big game, as well as small mammals, reptiles, birds and pollinators.
It is also worth highlighting that the mountain mahogany plant communities at these properties are extremely rare globally and found only in the northern part of the Colorado Front Range, southern Wyoming, and northern New Mexico.
An aerial herbicide application from helicopter will be utilized to adapt to varying terrain limitations, provide application uniformity, applicator safety and efficiency. In addition to herbicide applications, the project includes vegetation monitoring through transects in treated and non-treated areas, photopoints of treated areas to document habitat changes, and the use of a GIS tool, RangeView, to determine cheatgrass densities in treatment areas.
At the 2022 Colorado Weed Management Association Winter Training, project partners were honored to receive the CWMA Partnership Award for the Northern Colorado Big Game Critical Winter Range Restoration Project. The Partnership Award recognizes local groups or organizations that have advanced the objectives of weed management through technique, team efforts, and communication or education efforts.
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