Colorado buys 1,800 acres near Fairplay for wildlife lovers
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has acquired Collard Ranch in Park County and will turn it into a state wildlife area, an acquisition Gov. Jared Polis hailed Friday as an “enormous opportunity” for hunters, anglers, bird watchers, wildlife lovers and photographers.
The 1,860-acre property located near Fairplay provides an important elk migration corridor, officials say, and offers five miles of good fishing habitat along Tarryall Creek.
“Within 60 miles of the Denver metro area, to be able to have a breathtaking, significant 1,800acre property with hunting and fishing for Coloradans to enjoy is absolutely incredible,” Polis said.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife will open it as the Collard Ranch State Wildlife Area following the completion of infrastructure and accessibility projects.
The purchase was completed in partnership with the Western Rivers Conservancy and Great Outdoors Colorado. GOCO contributed $6.25 million from state lottery proceeds. Another $2 million came from CPW’S habitatstamp program from fees raised through the sale of hunting and fishing licenses.
“The state is able to engage in this kind of meaningful public access enhancement and improvement because of the lottery and fees paid by hunters and anglers,” Polis said. “Tarryall Creek is a special area to so many people in Colorado, with easy access for Park County residents and folks living on the Front Range,” said Allen Law, Interior West Project Manager for the Western Rivers Conservancy, in a news release. “We are proud to partner with CPW to forever protect this stretch of the creek, especially given its importance to a critical wildlife corridor and its iconic views of Kenosha Pass.”
The conservancy acquired Collard Ranch in December to preserve it for public access under CPW management.
“One of the South Platte River’s principal tributaries is Tarryall Creek, which flows from the 13,823-foot Mount Silver
A honeybee crawls over a lavender blossom. Native bees tend to be the best pollinators of native plants.
As the weather warms, anticipation grows in people eager to grow vegetable gardens. Gardening daydreams become a canvas of plump tomatoes, colorful dangling peppers, and sprawling squash vines covered in sunny blooms.
The secret to making these bountiful dreams come true is simple: Create a welcoming space for pollinators in and around your vegetable garden. Once that neon welcome sign is turned on, your garden will burst with the activity of these winged workers. Their presence will sweeten the success of your garden by boosting pollination, yield, resistance to pests, and local biodiversity.
While you might notice insects like flies, beetles and butterflies casually moving from flower to flower, bees are the ones doing most of the pollination work.
The image of honeybees clasping squash flowers might suggest a simple exchange in pollination services. The reality is that pollination can be complex and nuanced, depending on the flower to be pollinated. Honeybees, introduced to North America in the colonial era, tend to steal the spotlight in pollinator discussions. Their generalist and nondiscriminatory pollination behavior benefits farmers and a wide range of crops, making them highly desirable.
But they are not, as many people assume, the quick fix for our pollination problems — including loss of habitat and species diversity, and overuse of chemicals — that have cut the population of pollinators and, thus, pollination itself. The assumption about honeybees is how the vital work of native bees is overlooked.
The life cycles and behaviors of native bees are in sync with the blooming periods and pollination requirements of native plants — a perfect, more efficient pairing. When populations are healthy, native bees are active in weather that honeybees avoid, and they tend to be more adaptable to local climate challenges. Bumblebees, for example, have a unique pollination behavior valued for crops like blueberries, peppers and tomatoes. The flowers of these plants have pollen grains that do not loosen or transfer easily, resulting in less-than-ideal pollination by most insects. Bumblebees, though, can release stubborn pollen using buzz pollination, vibrating their wings while gripping the flower.
About 20% of our native bees are specialists, using only the pollen from one species or plant genus. The squash bee, for instance, relies solely on pollen from cucurbits (squash, pumpkins, cucumbers) to feed its offspring. Although the spiny texture, low nutritional value and chemical defenses of squash pollen repel many generalists, squash bees flourish on it.
Supporting these specialized pollinator relationships leads to efficient, well-rounded pollination in flower beds and vegetable gardens. Here are a few easy tips to turn on that neon welcome sign and invite biodiversity into your garden. heels and is known for its excellent brown and rainbow trout fishing,” according to a post on the conservancy’s website. “Roughly 10 miles northeast of the town of Fairplay, Tarryall
Creek flows through the 1,860-acre Collard Ranch, which sits immediately off of Highway 285. For five miles, the stream meanders through the ranch’s open grasslands in beautiful horseshoe bends, with 360-degree views of the Lost Park Wilderness, the Kenosha Mountains and the Mosquito Range.”
Sales of habitat stamps have helped CPW guarantee hunting and fishing access to more than 146 million acres of land since 2006 with 316,000 acres of important fish and wildlife habitat.
“Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s acquisition of the Collard Ranch property marks a significant conservation success for our state,” CPW director Jeff Davis said in the release. “The purchase underscores CPW’S mission to preserve land for outdoor enthusiasts.”
Great Outdoors Colorado has invested $1.4 billion in Colorado Lottery proceeds since 1992 to help the state acquire and preserve land
A monarch butterfly alights on goldenrod. for public access. Through its Centennial Program, GOCO targets “once-in-ageneration” parcels.
“Western Rivers Conservancy and Colorado Parks and Wildlife have given us exactly that kind of opportunity with the Collard Ranch project,” GOCO executive director Jackie Miller said in the release, “and we
Bees are important for the pollination of sunflowers. are proud to help make it a reality for Colorado with our $6.25-million investment.”
According to the governor’s office, since Polis became governor, CPW has acquired 558,000 acres of new land for public access through fee titles, public access easements, and public access leases.