Tolland Ranch Conservation Easement
May 2, 2014
Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department
Boulder Ranger District, ARP National Forest
Boulder County Commissioners
The Boulder Area Trails Coalition (BATCO) supports the Tolland acquisition only if it includes access to summer recreation trails and parking right away and also provisions for additional trails in the future.
As the umbrella group for all non-motorized recreationists in Boulder County, we are very familiar with many of the existing trails that bump right up against all of the locked gates of the enormous Toll Ranch: gates across roads and trails from West Magnolia, gates from trails at the Eldora Mountain Resort, gates from the Jenny Creek trail, gates preventing trail access to Boulder Park, gates preventing access to Jenny Lind Gulch, etc.
The potential of the Toll property to provide a spectacular non-motorized trail experience based on long regional trail connections is substantial – this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pull all the pieces of the puzzle together.
We were therefore very enthusiastic to learn that the various land management agencies have been negotiating with the Toll Family. However, we were subsequently devastated to learn that for $7.1 million of taxpayer (and other) money there would be minimal public access to a very restrictive conservation easement.
Saying we might be able to negotiate summer recreation “someday in the future” isn’t good enough. Winter recreation only, on a few trails only, isn’t good enough. Looking at the Toll Ranch in isolation, or the Eldora Mountain Resort in isolation, isn’t good enough. Not including the public in the process until the deal is cast in stone isn’t good enough. The fact that this is a conservation easement isn’t a good enough reason to preclude public access.
Now is the time to look at the big picture. If you do, you will see that now is the time to ensure a legacy for future generations that goes beyond the prevention of development and preservation of wildlife habitat. Now is the time to ensure a legacy that ensures reasonable public access to this important area in Boulder County.
This public access that we are requesting could be done with essentially no new infrastructure. All that is required is to remove all (or even just some of) the gates that currently inhibit access and declare victory. Even better, we could make a clear statement about this being the people's land and add a new trailhead or two.
We urge you to rewrite the Conservation Easement to include passive summer recreation on the Toll Ranch acquisition.
Sincerely,
David Blankinship
President, Boulder Area Trails Coalition
BATCO ¨ P.O. Box 19726 ¨ Boulder, CO 80308
www.bouldertrails.org
BATCO ¨ P.O. Box 19726 ¨ Boulder, CO 80308
www.bouldertrails.org