Bobcat Ridge Restoration - Spring 2021

[Music] hi my name is matt parker and i'm with the city of fort collins natural areas department i'm here at bobcat ridge natural area which burned in the cameron peak fire back in october 2020 the fire affected nearly 75 percent of the area leaving behind burned grasses and shrubs but sparing historic buildings and other structures on the property now that spring has arrived at bobcat ridge we can take a better look at the longer term fire impacts as well as what natural areas staff have accomplished in the early stages of our restoration and recovery efforts before the fire the valley was dominated by various species of grass many of which were introduced or non-native grasses sometimes these grasses pushed out native plants and greatly degraded wildlife habitat the fire which removed these plants by burning has actually given us a natural opportunity to improve the overall ecology here at bobcat ridge as part of our current restoration effort natural areas crews will be working to eliminate non-native plants and seed native plants this will improve the valley habitat for insects grassland birds and all the wildlife visitors enjoy watching in order to open for visitors again we are removing hazardous trees improving trails and replacing three bridges as well as the mahoney park boardwalk we are also replacing burn signs fences and the accessible equestrian ramp thanks for your patience as all these repairs and improvements are made before reopening in late summer cycles of fire and recovery are natural agents and our current restoration efforts are simply assisting with that process even now with little human presence bobcat ridge is teeming with wildlife mule deer elk and turkeys are frequently captured on wildlife cameras and they seem to be more active during the day with the site closed it's wonderful to see how these animals are adapted to periods of fire and growth in their natural environment the fire although destructive in the short term gave us the opportunity to improve bobcat ridge's overall ecological health in the long term restoring the valley into a native grassland will provide better habitat for wildlife birds and pollinators we'll regularly update folks on our social media channels together the community will watch this place grow and rebound [Music] again [Music] you

Channel: City of Fort Collins

Views: 952

Rating: 4.8000002 out of 5

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Id: B7IqX6mzF18

Length: 3min 4sec (184 seconds)

Published: Thu May 06 2021