Plant and Animal Species of Local Concern in the Boulder Valley

Policy 3.03 expresses the city’s intent to protect local species diversity and natural ecosystems. The purpose of creating the Boulder Valley Species of Special Concern List is to support this policy by refining federal and state lists of species of concern to reflect the uniqueness of lands within the Boulder Valley.

Boulder faces unique challenges in managing its wildlife and plant resources, due to its location at the urban/wildland, the diversity of habitats, the variety of recreational uses, and the amount of community involvement. The Boulder Valley Species of Special Concern List is intended as a supplement to the Critical Habitat and Species section of the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan Environmental Resources Element.

The Species of Special Concern List complements the Natural Ecosystem designation in the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan by serving as a reference for the protection and management of sensitive species and their habitat. The list is a guide for developing departmental management plans and for making citywide policy, land use, and regulatory decisions. The list will be updated as the status of species changes and as data gaps are filled.

The following goals guided the development of the Species of Special Concern List:

• Recognize sensitive plant and animal species currently unrecognized through regulatory programs
• Integrate local significant ecological features of the Boulder Valley as part of the spectrum of species of concern
• Establish local responsibility for species of concern
• Provide updated and Boulder Valley specific guidance for city policies, regulations, programs and plans
• Recognize the intrinsic value of local flora and fauna
• Instill community awareness of species protection issues and the cumulative impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation
• Create a living record for future monitoring and study

Planning and other city and county practices to help implement policy 4.06 include the following:

1. Public land management
2. Public acquisition
3. Purchase of development rights or conservation easements
4. Promotion of private land conservation practices
5. Land use designation changes and rezonings
6. Annexations and initial zonings
7. Service area boundary changes
8. Mitigation of impacts through development review
9. Subcommunity and departmental master planning.

State, and federal species of concern lists were used to create the Boulder Valley List of Species of Special Concern. Information was collected from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Colorado Division of Wildlife, and Colorado Natural Heritage Program. At least one of these agencies recognizes each species on the list as having a global, federal, or state ranking of concern. The criteria for including a species on the Boulder Valley list is as follows:

1. The species is listed under the provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act as;

• LE – Listed Endangered
• LT – Listed Threatened
• PT – Proposed threatened or
• C – Candidate for listing

2. The species is listed by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife as

• Threatened
• Endangered

3. The species is listed by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program as 

• G1 – Globally critically imperiled (typically 5 or fewer occurrences)
• G2 – Globally imperiled (typically 6 to 20 occurrences)
• S1 – State critically imperiled (typically 5 or fewer occurrences)
• S2 – State imperiled (typically 6 to 20 occurrences)

In the future, this list may be expanded to include species that meet the following additional criteria, listed in order of precedence:

• The species is endemic to this area
• The species is critical to ecosystem function or ecosystem processes are diminished enough to require intervention
• The species habitat is isolated, at the edge of it range, or declining in Boulder County
• The species habitat or population is threatened by adjacent land uses, recreational uses, invasive weed species, wildlife influence or collecting activities
• The species habitat is limited or the species is a member of a relictual community
• Information or professional data on this species is lacking
• The species is extirpated in Boulder County
• The species requires special management or monitoring actions related to public safety or federal/state protection

For plant species, the following criteria may be used in addition to the above to further refine the list as needed:

• The species is limited to uncommon successional stage(s)
• The species has a high sensitivity to fire or other disturbance
• The number of pollinators of the species is limited
• The species is a critical food source, etc., for rare animal species
• The species is threatened by the high degree of reproductive or genetic isolation.