WINTER NEWSLETTER 2020 . . . . . . . . Volume 38, Number 1
Our mission: To educate, inform and inspire for the purpose of conserving and promoting resilient natural ecosystems in our region
Get Involved
BCNA Annual Meeting
Saturday, February 22, 6:00 to 8:00 PM

Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder/Sky Room
5001 Pennsylvania Avenue, Boulder

Speaker: Colin Woolley, Coordinator of the Bird Conservancy Bird Banding project at Rogers Grove in Longmont, CO, partially funded by a BCNA grant

There will also be the election of new BCNA Board members. 

Please bring your own table service, beverage, and a main dish, salad, or desert to share. 
Boulder County Nature Association 2020 Annual Ecosymposium
March 14, 2020
9 AM - 3 PM

Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex (SEEC)
University of Colorado
3001 Discovery Drive
Boulder CO 80303

Free and open to the public


Complimentary lunch

Precipitation in Colorado’s high country has a big effect on the lives of Front Range residents, whether plant, animal, or human. Snowpack feeds local creeks, lakes and ditches and moistens the soil for plant communities. Climate change is altering the amount and timing of snow and rain, and the runoff of melting snow, as well as the amounts and chemistry of the water sent downstream. Greater variability in precipitation will also increase the frequency of drought, flood and wildfire. Other environmental changes of the Anthropocene Era are also affecting water chemistry and in turn the biological communities in our lakes and streams. Speakers will address questions such as, What changes to our water supply are observed now and predicted for the future? How do scientists measure and model these changes? And what are the consequences for our local ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic?
Join BCNA Members for the Annual iNaturalist Bioblitz
Saturday, April 25 th

BCNA will host a membership gathering at Walden Ponds shelter. We will use our phones or cameras with the iNaturalist app to participate in the Bioblitz challenge between Denver and Boulder. We’ll go out in groups to photograph all the nature we can find!

The iNaturalist app is FREE, is easy and fun to use, and will tell you what you’ve photographed!

Please join us. Family friendly!
More details will follow in April.
What is a bioblitz with iNaturalist anyway ?

Last April a small group of naturalists met at the Rabbit Mountain Open Space with the intent of recording every species we could find in a given spot, from tiny ants to red-tailed hawks, from large Ponderosa to little yellow spring violets — a bioblitz. None of us had ever sat in one spot and tried to photograph and identify every species we could find around us, to look closely to see every living organism in a small area, whether we knew its name or not. Our next challenges were to submit all our observations to iNaturalist and then to identify each species observed.

First, we uploaded our photographs from phones and cameras to iNaturalist using the iNaturalist app to share our findings. Next, we put on our detective hats to do our best to identify each species. iNaturalist automatically compared our photos to its growing database of all the photos that have already been submitted and suggested tentative identifications. We could accept its top suggestion or do further research, safe in the knowledge that our photos had to be verified by an expert before they would be added to the database for research. We were all pleased to add to the knowledge base for Rabbit Mountain as we added to our own knowledge base of the complex world at our feet.

We look forward to sharing the excitement of finding lots of species and identifying them together at Walden Ponds next April! Let’s see if we can help lift Denver/Boulder into the top 25 on the total number of species observed this year.
Request for 2020 Grant Proposals
2020 Grants Proposals Due February 16, 2020

BCNA is pleased to offer research funding as small one-year grants for projects consistent with our mission. Grants are available in two categories: general grants of up to $4,000 and a native cat grant of up to $3,000.
 
General grants are to increase our understanding of Boulder County ecosystems with an emphasis on effects of climate change and expanding front range development on our flora and fauna, streams, and recreation areas. Research findings should add to the knowledge available to Boulder County decision-makers to both protect and enjoy our natural resources. Native cat grants, from the Ken Evenson Memorial Fund, are specifically for research on our native cats (mountain lion, lynx, and bobcat). One grant may be awarded annually.
 
Applications should be submitted and received no later than February 16 th to Larry Arp ( grants@bcna.org ), the Chair of the Grants Committee.

From BCNA
Letter from Sue Cass, BCNA board president

As those of us who hone our conservation craft on Boulder County and the Front Range enter the decade of the 2020s, environmental issues of immense import loom large on the horizon. Local and planetary impacts associated with climate change and population growth are coming into sharper focus creating a narrative that can no longer be contradicted... a narrative that commands attention and, more importantly, aggressive and effective action. To that end, BCNA's Issues and Conservation Committee, under the chairmanship of Gerard Kelly, will attempt to expand and enhance its deliberative process in support of its effort to actuate sound and effective positions and strategies that reinforce BCNA's resolute mission. We hope to engage you directly in this process by keeping you concurrently informed and providing the opportunity to meet periodically to solicit your perspectives as issues evolve. Stay tuned!
BCNA is an amazing organization with a mission made all the more material by the uncertain times we are experiencing! If you are concerned for the well-being of wildlife and wilderness in Boulder County and on the Front Range, join us on the BCNA Board of Directors or on our committees like Education, Publications, Issues & Conservation, and Communication.  

Take your highly valued BCNA membership to the next level and reap the rewards of heightened awareness and knowledge of the issues that impact our environment while working hand in hand with friends who share your values and concerns. Please join us, and you may contact me at suecass@comcast.net for further information.  Thank you! 
A heartfelt note from Mary Stuber, BCNA education coordinator 

It’s never easy to turn the page on something you love doing. As February approaches and I near the end of six years of service on BCNA’s board, I will also be stepping away as education chair. Perhaps nothing else I have done has meant as much to me as working on coming up with these fun classes for you. My approach was simple – to listen to what you want, and to pay attention to what sounded fun to me. I couldn’t have done anything at all without the help of others.

Great thanks to the many teachers who have shared their marvelous knowledge with all of us. And thanks to all of you who have supported our program by signing up for classes year after year, and who have shared your feedback and comments with us. I am grateful to everyone before me who made BCNA’s Ecology Field Classes a reality, and to those who will carry it forward. 

Perhaps nothing is more important now than strengthening our connections, and helping others form their own deep bonds, with the natural world. How can these classes help? Here is a comment from one of the evaluations we received in 2019: “ I’m indebted to BCNA for some of my most effective learning. BCNA helps me build the foundation I’m looking for.”  

Thank you all for your support and kind remarks over the years. I hope to see you out there.
Learn with Us
New BCNA classes have been announced

Be sure to mark these dates on your calendar. Detailed class information is on the BCNA website.
Sue Riffe will lead us on a very special day in the field for an eye-full of Greater Sage Grouse dancing on their lek. We’ll also visit other hotspots like Walden Reservoir and Arapahoe NWR. Registration for Greater Sage Grouse and Jackson County opens MARCH 22, Sunday at 8:00 am.

Nathan Pieplow will help participants have a better understanding of what you are hearing when a bird sings in the Bird Sounds: Getting to the Next Level class. Registration opens APRIL 1, Wednesday at 8:00 am.

Vicki Braunagel and Leslie Larson will offer a class on Nature Photography for the Enthusiastic Amateur geared toward intermediate DSLR camera users, who are ready to move past auto settings, try new techniques and enhance their photos. 
Registration opens APRIL 17, Friday at 8:00 am.
Megan Bowes and Dr. Adrian Carper will show how interactions between plants and their pollinators are the result of both ecological and evolutionary factors, creating much of the biodiversity in our state. Registration for Pollination Ecology: Exploring Plant-Pollinator Interactions opens APRIL 28, Tuesday at 8:00 am.     
Steve Jones will share information on the strange relationship between Milkweed and the Monarch butterfly and the epic migration journey of this beautiful butterfly. Registration opens JUNE 25, Thursday at 8:00 am.

Scott Severs will lead a class to observe and photograph Extraordinary Odonata – Dragonflies! Participants will learn about their life cycle, behavior, and beginning ID of these fierce predators. Registration opens JULY 1, Wednesday at 8:00 am.
Stay Informed
BCNA’s Mission in Action
Sue Cass, President

For nearly four decades BCNA has been conducting important open-ended
research projects on bird populations in Boulder County. The BCNA Avian Species
of Special Concern list, originally compiled by Michael G. Figgs in 1982, has been
updated six times, most recently in 2010 by Dave Hallock and Steve Jones and
focuses on species “that are more vulnerable and less adaptable to change”.
Today, the relevancy of this charge is burdened by an immense concern that may
not have been in sharp focus in 1982 . . . climate change! The impacts of rapid
population growth have been an issue for decades and have accelerated
exponentially in recent years!
The BCNA Winter Raptor Survey, which many of you support on an annual basis, provides important documentation of fluctuating, sometimes starkly, populations of wintering raptor species in Boulder County and their impact on and interactions with resident raptor species, including recently arrived bald eagles.
The BCNA Indian Peaks Breeding Bird Count, another volunteer supported
research project organized in 1982 and coordinated by Dave Hallock, is one of the
longest continuously running research projects in the nation related to birds!
In an article published in the Boulder Daily Camera and Longmont Times Call “ Boulder County’s populations of native bird species decline in the face of development, indicate further environmental degradation”, author John Spina consulted with numerous researchers and others in the know in the county and, thanks to Steve Jones and Dave Hallock, BCNA’s compilation of relative scientific documentation featured prominently. To every “citizen scientist” who has and continues to support BCNA research projects, we say “Thank You! The Colorado State Demography Office’s report that the population of Boulder County is projected to grow by 675,000 by 2050, “a more immediate threat to the area’s ecosystems”, is a disquieting thought with which to end!
BCNA’s Butterflies of the Colorado Front Range

The brand new second edition of  Butterflies of the Colorado Front Range: A Photographic Guide to 100 Species by Jan Chu and Steve Jones is now available in eBook format! It is available for $5.99 from Amazon, Apple Books, kobo.com and barnesandnoble.com.

A print version of the second edition is expected in February.

The ebook has the same great pictures and information that the new print book will have. It also has links that make it easy to compare similar butterflies and to go quickly to the page you want to read. And, of course, it is easily portable on your mobile devices such as iPhones or Android phones, iPads or Android tablets. You can also read it on laptops or desktops. Please give us a review!
Sign up for Nature-Net

To find out about classes, programs, challenges and what’s going on in the natural world of Boulder County and beyond, sign up for Nature-Net, BCNA’s and Boulder County Audubon’s email forum. To subscribe, send a blank message to nature-net-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
From the Field
Burrowing Owls
 We promised to share information regarding the county's discouraging Burrowing Owl nest survey season when it became available and we are pleased to direct you to the BCPOS 2019 Burrowing Owl Monitoring Summary that attempts to forthrightly annotate and analyze those experiences as we, undeterred, prepare enthusiastically for the 2020 season ahead. To all who have participated over the years, thank you!
Check out the full report of the 2019 Butterfly Inventories in Boulder County Open Spaces by Jan Chu. The report covers Rock Creek, Heil Valley Ranch, Walker Ranch, Reynold's Ranch, and Caribou Ranch.

How Did BCNA Get Started?
Viki Lawrence
The Boulder County Open Space program was formed in 1975 to manage Bald Mountain, then leased from the state, as well as local in-town parks. In 1977, at the request of the landowners, Betasso and Walker Ranches were purchased to preserve their lands. In 1978 the county adopted the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan (BCCP). This plan which aimed to make “land-use decisions … in a coordinated and responsible manner” provided the way forward for the development of the county. Primary goals were to maintain agricultural land as well as land with environmental or natural resource value, to keep development in existing towns, and to maintain wildlife corridors.

However, in the 70s and early 80s, the county did not have sufficient knowledge about what open space to purchase nor how to maintain it. So, within the BCCP was the Open Space Element which was intended to be a guide book for creating the open space program, defining things such as passive recreation, describing policies for resource management among others, and how to go about purchasing land.

In the early 1980s, Rich Koopmann, then a ranger and naturalist for Boulder County Parks and Open Space, realized people were working independently, outside of the University, on bird surveys, mammal research, rare plant mapping and general natural history discovery of Boulder County. One night, early in 1982, he and Mike Figgs, a friend from Boulder Audubon, were eating dinner together at Denny’s on Baseline Road. They discussed how they might bring these researchers together to the benefit of the fledgling Open Space program, which lacked funding to support much research on land they already owned or land they might want to purchase. The 1978 Comprehensive Plan was in the midst of an update and the county wanted to include more environmental data in the Environmental Resources Element of the plan. So Rich and Mike conceived an umbrella organization over those dozen or so avocational naturalists, which soon became a 501(c)3 non-profit, Boulder County Nature Association (BCNA). 

BCNA brought together the county and citizen scientists for the benefit of understanding the environmental, natural resources, and cultural assets of the county lands. Rich Koopmann, Steve Jones, Mike Figgs, Dave Hallack, Nan Lederer, Rob Helmick, and others would meet at the A-frame at Walden Ponds, have a glass of wine, spread out maps on the floor, and work together into the night to develop the map layers of known environmental resources of the county. 

Forming a 501(c)3 nonprofit allowed them to gain funding from grants and donations, income sources the County government was not permitted to use. Some of the funds BCNA received also went to supporting the Volunteer Naturalist program. Sales tax to benefit Open Space did not yet exist and the county was using money they were allotted from property taxes for the acquisition of land, not research. The founders of BCNA also had some concerns about the commitment of the County Commissioners to the Open Space program and feared the next election might turn the tide away from furthering the program. BCNA hoped to provide sufficient data and information to make that turn away more difficult in the event of a less Open Space friendly board of commissioners.

Originally BCNA was a joint venture with Boulder County and required
a county employee to be on the board (Rich Koopmann) along with non-county members. Eventually, in 1988 Boulder County Open Space and BCNA separated from each other. However, they still work together closely with BCNA providing the citizen scientists to carry out many of the research projects. 

One initial goal of BCNA was to make a map of Boulder County highlighting the areas of importance for conservation. This map continues to be updated and used to gain a better understanding of important habitats, to track organisms that are losing ground and declining in number as the county develops, and as a guide for purchases. Citizen science was the founding methodology for this research.
Current map of the Environmental Conservation Areas, Boulder County Comprehensive Plan, adopted October 14, 2015
Initially, the board of BCNA consisted of people that were doing various research projects. Everybody worked. Somebody would conceive a project and then often with the help of Rich a team would be formed to carry it out. Membership in the organization gradually grew and its mission has changed to include education, research funding, and advocacy. Many of the original research projects are continuing to be carried out through BCNA in close coordination with the county. 

A few highlights of the collaboration between BCPOS and BCNA:

1984: BCNA’s help was solicited to help determine properties that should be purchased, and most of those suggested have been purchased.

1984: BCNA accepted donations for the explicit purpose of purchasing artifacts to be used in the Walker Ranch Days to honor the agricultural history of the area.

1986: BCPOS bought a used motorhome to convert to a traveling nature center (‘The Lodestar’). Rich, through BCNA, was able to secure a donation from IBM to develop the interior exhibits.

1989: A cultural resource survey turned up an archeological site. With CU’s help, the site was excavated and dated using a grant that BCNA secured, then reburied and marked as a prehistoric archaeological site.

There are many on-going citizen science research projects that are overseen by BCNA to gather data about various natural resources for BCPOS. 
 
Boulder County Nature Association sets itself apart from other seemingly similar nature organizations by being independent, related primarily to Boulder County, having a close collegial relationship with BCPOS, and having an emphasis on research, outreach, and education.

This article is based on:
Support Boulder County Nature Association
A big thank you to all who currently support BCNA!. Without your assistance, we would not be able to accomplish all that we do for our community and for the natural world around us. Memberships for the calendar year renew in November and December, but you can renew for next year any time.

Please consider renewing today if you have not already done so.

New members are always welcome!