Action Alert: FCNA Strategic Framework Update

Fort Collins Natural Areas is updating its Strategic Framework guidance document and is looking for community feedback. As cyclists, we should advocate for more access to our natural areas via singletrack trails and paved paths. It is possible to strike a balance between recreation and conservation.  Please take the survey below.

From the Natural Areas Strategic Framework project website–

What do you want for the future of your natural areas? For over 30 years, the Fort Collins and Larimer County community has prioritized natural areas conservation, which has resulted in an amazing network of conserved lands. Now, your voice will guide the future of conservation and stewardship with a planning document called the Natural Areas Strategic Framework. Your perspective will help the City embody the community-driven nature of our work.

Over the past 30 years, natural areas have grown from 13 to 53 protected open spaces with 136 miles of trail. Natural areas protect a diversity of habitats, wildlife, and native plant communities. When visiting these spaces, you’ll find opportunities to experience nature through recreation and education. You and your neighbors might also treasure these community assets because they are a place for health, cultural connections, research, and economic vitality. Your community-initiated city and county sales taxes fund natural areas.

Challenges natural areas will face in the next 20 years include:

• Increasing flooding, wildfires, and stressed ecosystems due to climate change and population growthSoapstone Prairie Natural Area (Greg Fencl)
• Increasing needs for infrastructure maintenance
• Increasing visitation and recreation use
• Diverse and sometimes conflicting community interests

Opportunities for the next 20 years of natural areas include:

• Building on land conservation accomplishments through future acquisitions and conservation easements
• Bringing together people who value natural areas
• Partnering with volunteers, non-profits, other agencies to conserve land, improve habitats, and provide visitor opportunities to build resilience
• Planning for the challenges ahead

Please fill out the following survey and make your voice heard-

• You are free to skip any questions.
• Each person may only answer the questionnaire one time.
• It should only take about 10 minutes, but you can answer some now and some later.
• The survey will be open until 5 p.m. on August 15, 2024.