Page 7 - Sentinel July 2018

WILDLIFE Continued from page 5 ranch will now get underway, with public access opening in
2019 anticipated to provide much needed relief for other open
continue what they are doing based on a consistent community space properties in the area. Public usage of county open space
response. trails has increased by 98 percent in the last five years, with
CONTACT INFO: more than 568,000 people hiking, biking, or riding horses on
- Emergency (i.e. Bear in your home) 911 or DCSO (303) 660- existing trails in 2017.
7500
- Nonemergency conflict, Questions or information Colorado “Sandstone Ranch offers the perfect opportunity to thought-
Parks and Wildlife (303) 291-7227
fully create new ways for the people of Douglas County and the
surrounding areas to access the great outdoors,” said Michele
Casey Westbrook Frishman, manager of program operations at GOCO.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
The public outreach process will consider how to balance rec-
[Editor’s Note: The two bears Casey mentions are in the Sage reation with wildlife habitat protection, as the ranch is home to
Port/Sterling Pointe area, but there are bears in every neighbor- a number of species that use the property as a migration route
hood this year. Please help them stay out of trouble!]
between Pike National Forest and protected land to the east.
The project will also honor the Sandstone Ranch’s rich agricul-
DOUGLAS COUNTRY RECEIVES tural history by continuing ranching operations on the property
GOCO GRANT TO DEVELOP with a herd of Red Angus cattle.
SANDSTONE RANCH OPEN SPACE
The $3.5 million grant is part of GOCO’s Protect Initiative, a
The Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Board has awarded a special initiative focused on once-in-a-lifetime projects to con-
$3.5 million serve large landscapes of land.
grant to Doug-
las County to To date, GOCO has invested $41.5 million in projects in Doug-
help the coun- las County and has conserved more than 36,000 acres of land
ty recoup costs there. GOCO funding has supported the East West Regional
for acquiring Trail, Phillip S. Miller Park, and the East Plum Creek Trail,
the Sandstone among other projects.
Ranch Open
Space. Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) invests a portion of Colo-
rado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s
Sandstone Ranch is a 2,038-acre property that has long been on parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces. GOCO’s inde-
the county’s wish list for a new public open space area. This re- pendent board awards competitive grants to local governments
cently acquired Douglas County Open Space property borders and land trusts and makes investments through Colorado Parks
the Pike National Forest, has water rights dating back to the and Wildlife. Created when voters approved a Constitutional
1860s, and provides sweeping views of red rock formations, Amendment in 1992, GOCO has since funded more than 5,000
sloping meadows, and pine forests. projects in urban and rural areas in all 64 counties without any
tax dollar support. Visit GOCO.org for more information.
The county competed with developers and affluent private buy-
ers eyeing the ranch for homesites, jumping at the chance to PET TALK WITH PILAR
buy Sandstone to protect it for the public. The county had to act Pilar Starman, DVD...
quickly at the beginning of 2018 to do this, using its entire open
space acquisition budget and borrowing from the county’s gen- Avoiding those that slither
eral fund with the approval from the Board of Douglas County
Commissioners. Now that Sandstone’s future is secure, the It has been a hot and dry season so
GOCO grant will allow Douglas County to replenish its funds far. There have been more reported
for future conservation work. rattlesnake sightings so far this year than I recall in years past.
Animal Emergency and Specialty Center in Parker has already
“We recognize that the Sandstone Ranch acquisition is so much treated at least 12 dogs that have been bitten by rattlesnakes,
more than just the preservation of 2,038 acres,” said Roger already meeting their typical number of envenomations for the
Partridge, on behalf of the Board of Douglas County Commis- entire year.
sioners. “It is the preservation of the County’s history, heritage,
wildlife habitat, as well as other cultural and natural resourc- There are about 30 species of snake that live in Colorado, but
es—a quality of life investment for present and future genera- only three pose a risk. These are the prairie rattlesnake (by far
tions.” the most common), the Western rattlesnake (aka midget-faced
A public engagement process to determine the best uses of the Continued on page 8

Perry Park Sentinel July 2018 - Page 7