Colorado Wildlife Federation Here is the fall 2014 Big Thompson update supplied by our Issues Co-Chair and founder of Friends of the Big Thompson, Walt Graul.
Larimer County Conservation & Recreation Assessment
In case you haven’t heard, Larimer County has hired Logan Simpson Design for $67,000 to do a Recreation and Conservation Assessment for the Big Thompson Canyon. The purpose of the Big Thompson Canyon Conservation and Recreation Assessment and Action Plan (BT-CRA) is to assess existing protected lands and recreation amenities and evaluate the feasibility for additional land protection and recreation opportunities. At the end of this process, this Action Plan will:
- provide a description of the feasibility to protect priority lands for conservation within the Canyon;
- assess the potential and locations for designated recreational access within the Canyon.
Overall this plan will analyze the possibilities, coordinate with other planning efforts and ultimately create a clear plan of action to implement a vision for land protection and recreational access in the Canyon. If you would like an electronic copy of the bid documents, email CWF at
It sounds like another way of saying “master plan.” But you can see why they want to avoid the confusion of having a river restoration plan and a separate river recreation plan. One of the reasons the county chose Logan Simpson was their experience working with the Big Thompson River Restoration Coalition (BTRRC) on the master plan for the watershed, which is in final draft stage. We all know that the recreation access issue along the Big Thompson is a sensitive one, so how the plan of action is presented via the outreach portion of the contract will be important. If you haven’ gotten a chance to review the draft river restoration master plan for the Big Thompson, it is available here: http://bigthompsonriver.org/