Full closure likely for Evergreen's off-leash dog park

[EGB News]

Dozens of the 154 people who attended Thursday’s community meeting about the Elk Meadow Dog Off-leash Area stormed out early while mumbling expletives under their breath after learning from Jeffco Open Space officials that closing the popular dog park in Evergreen is all but a foregone conclusion.

. . . those who attended the second of three meetings at the Buchanan Rec Center in Evergreen thought they were there to help narrow the field to the best solutions for the public safety and severe environmental issues facing Elk Meadow — while ensuring it remains open for public use.


http://www.canyoncourier.com/content/ev ... -closure-0

[cabinish]

Clearly there is need for a 2nd or 3rd dog park, even small ones.

Just as the Buchanan Park community garden interest far exceeded available plots, a 2nd community garden
was started near Wulf.

Keeping the stream areas off limits, rotating rest for large tracts within the park would have helped.
Even charging a fee to utilize the park is preferable to closing the park entirely to those who enjoy it so much.

There's no doubt the public felt their time was wasted by the impression they were there for collective
problem-solving when it became apparent Jeffco Open Space intended to close the park all along.

[ChromaKey]

Jefferson County Officials rededicate park for use solely by outlaws and scofflaws. So be it.

Well, that is certainly disappointing. I don't even visit that park, and I expect better than this. "Oh well, tragedy of the commons, I guess we just can't have parks!" is not an acceptable answer from the Jefferson County open space officials.

[cabinish]

Perhaps when the high E. coli levels were discovered last summer some action steps could have
been taken, at the least making the creek off limits.

I know a lot of people who will be extremely disappointed.

They estimate 4,000 visitors a week, over 130 a day. Elk meadow probably has as many but people stick
to trails more.

[EGB News]

Photo credit Seth A. McConnell, YourHub

“We are going to close the park at some point at some level for what is referred to as our Natural Resource Protection act,” said Matt Robbins, a Jefferson County Open Space community connections manager. “The intent at that point is to go in and clean up what we believe is in excess of 500 pounds of dog waste.”

Jefferson County Open Space officials broke the news to community members at a meeting Feb. 9. The decision seemed abrupt to some after the second of what was to be three meetings to gather community input and suggestions for how to address the issues of dog waste, illegal parking along the road outside the park and vegetation loss.

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/10/ev ... rk-closed/

[ChromaKey]

Unfortunately, I can only assume that what this is going to accomplish will be the redirection of the foot and paw traffic that would have walked here. They will instead go to other area trails. Hopefully they'll keep the trails clean. Maybe Buchanan park can reopen in a few months.

[Karen]

There is no doubt something crappy about this whole deal. It really stinks. IMO

We need the poop, the whole poop, and nothing but the poop. Just to get to the bottom of this crappy situation.

Thanks Obama!

[Windchime]

Clearly there is need for a 2nd or 3rd dog park, even small ones.

Just as the Buchanan Park community garden interest far exceeded available plots, a 2nd community garden
was started near Wulf.

Keeping the stream areas off limits, rotating rest for large tracts within the park would have helped.
Even charging a fee to utilize the park is preferable to closing the park entirely to those who enjoy it so much.

There's no doubt the public felt their time was wasted by the impression they were there for collective
problem-solving when it became apparent Jeffco Open Space intended to close the park all along.

Please keep in mind that this problem has not been caused by Jeffco Open Space but rather the folks who abused the land. Not fair to blame JOS at all.

[Photo-fish]

Last meeting is tonight at Buchanan Rec Center but it sounds like Jeffco has made up their minds.
Hopefully they can rotate some of the gated areas to allow to re-vegetate. The last area to the west is bare of any grass at all and the trails through the other area are getting wider and wider. The e-coli issue will only be controlled by respectful and responsible pet owners. The e-coli levels are low now due the cold weather and hardly any flows. Even with the massive dog poop clean-up efforts, they will spike again in the spring and fall. Not that the e-coli numbers are that concerning to Bear Creek where dilution will be the solution.