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Agriculture takes root on open space
Two Roots Farm is poised to become the first certified organic producer of agricultural products on a Pitkin County Open Space and Trails property – the latest milestone for a program that now has 13 agricultural lease areas and more on the way.
Two Roots was awarded a lease for two areas of Emma Open Space in early 2018. Growers Harper Kaufman and Christian La Bar produced roughly 30,000 pounds of vegetables at Emma last year after creating a fenced-in garden plot, installing a permanent irrigation system and erecting a hoop house. New this year, Two Roots has installed a second, larger hoop house and plans to expand the cultivated area within its outdoor garden plot. Kaufman and La Bar have also been working through the considerable paperwork required to be certified as an organic grower – an effort that requires documenting their ongoing use of all things organic, from compost and soil amendments to potting mix and even seeds. They hope to receive the USDA certification in June.
Nature’s engineers at work at North Star
A beaver peers from the bank at North Star Nature Preserve in the spring of 2018.
Management of the ecosystem at North Star Nature Preserve is not entirely in the hands of its human overseers. The beaver population at North Star has been steadily growing for the past decade or so – putting the riparian landscape under the capable stewardship of North America’s largest rodent.
In fact, the flat-tailed animals’ ability to alter a landscape may be second only to that of humans. While North Star is perfect for beavers, with its slow-moving water, wide valley and preferred forage (aspens, cottonwoods and willows), the beavers are also perfect for North Star. They improve the health of the riparian ecosystem by flooding upland areas and creating new side channels that help improve habitat for birds and ungulates such as elk and moose. In addition, beavers foraging on willows stimulate vigorous sprouting of the plants.
Technology key to wildlife studies
Bighorn sheep, mountain goat and elk herds in the Roaring Fork Watershed are all the focus of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) studies that employ GPS tracking collars to determine herd movements, animal interactions and, in the case of elk, calf mortality.
New in this effort is the involvement of Pitkin County Open Space and Trails (OST), which has budgeted roughly $92,000 in 2019 to help fund the tracking equipment; another $54,000 allocation is also contemplated in 2020.
