Boulder County Open Space debates shifting to fee-based recreation.

There's debate ensuing in Leave No Trace's hometown of Boulder, Colorado. The subject: whether or not to begin a pilot program that would charge non-residents to use Open Space trails.

Boulder County's Parks and Open Space program was initiated in the mid-1960s by citizens interested in preserving land from rapid development. Since then, the city has spent $208 million to purchase more than 45,000 acres of open space in and around Boulder. Over 65% of land in Boulder County is protected from development by Boulder County and federal, state, and local agencies, either through conservation easements or land ownership.

Today, Boulder County still has more than 5,800 acres left in its master plan -- at an estimated cost of about $100 million.

To generate the funding needed for the rest of this land acquisition, another model program is being discussed at the city level: to begin charging a fee for non-Boulder County residents who use city-owned trails.

With a high influx of recreational users coming from the surrounding Denver metro areas, the program could be successfully tested at certain trailheads first where a high preponderance of these users visit.

On the flip side, many of these recreational users, while they live in Denver or the surrounding areas, have relocated to Colorado to enjoy the bounty of outdoor experiences this area has to offer. For these folks, living outside of Boulder is more a matter of occupational convenience, not because they spend any less time here.

Why charge only non-residents of Boulder County?

How will this effect the high-impact recreational areas of Boulder, should the city decide to ease in to this transition? Would focusing the pilot at certain trails cause outdoor users to simply shift their recreation to another trailhead?

Could this pilot, like the original Open Space program, have national implication in the long-run should it succeed?

To learn more:
Full Article, "Boulder could charge non-residents to use open space trails," Daily Camera
Boulder County Parks and Open Space Website

Image: Local residents of Boulder Colorado enjoying Flagstaff Mountain, an area already instituting fee-based recreation for non-Boulder County residents. Sara Close.