CoNPS Blog
News, Events & Nature Updates
Mountain Mahogany: What’s in a Name?
In the case of Mountain Mahogany, not much! Cancel any images of grand and stately trees bravely crowning mountaintops, this Colorado native rarely reaches 16 feet. And, partly because it is a favorite browse-snack for deer and elk, its stature is more contorted than...
Mission Grant Award Winner – Spring 2020
Spring 2020 Mission Grant Awarded to Jennifer Bousselot to Continue Research on Green Roofs The CoNPS Mission Grant Committee made a follow-up award of $750.00 to Jennifer Bousselot to support continuation of a multi-year project assessing green roof effects on...
2020 Alice Eastwood Scholarship Awarded
2020 Alice Eastwood Scholarship Recipient: Grace E. Gardner (Biology, Colorado Mesa University). $950. Grace, our inaugural recipient of an Alice Eastwood Scholarship, is interested in pursuing a career in sustainable agriculture. This has been...
2020 John Marr Grant Awards
The CoNPS Research Grants Committee has Chosenthe Recipients for the 2020 John Marr Research Grants Courtenay Ray $850 for: “Demographic response to climate change in the Rocky Mountain alpine” Emily Mooney $850 for: “How native host plant variation shapes a...
A Tribute to William Weber
We couldn’t fit the entirety of Ron’s heart-warming tribute to Dr. Weber in the Spring issue of Aquilegia, but you can read it all below. Mary Menz, managing editorA Tribute: William A. Weber William A. Weber (1918–2020), world renowned botanist and eminent Colorado...
CoNPS Comments on Jefferson County Conservation Plan
On May 11, 2020 CoNPS commented on the Jefferson County Parks Conservation Plan. https://conps.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Jeffco-Greenprint-Plan.pdf
2020 Myrna Steinkamp Grant Award Winners
The CoNPS Research Grants Committee has Chosen the Recipients for the 2020 Myrna Steinkamp Research Grants Bronwyn Taylor $1,000 for: “The reproductive ecology of Astragalus microcymbus” Emily Orr $1,000 for: “Population genomic analysis of the rare, narrow...
2019 Conservation Committee Annual Report
Here is the CoNPS Conservation Committee 2019 Annual Report of Activities.
NEPA Regulation Changes – CoNPS Signs on To Public Comment
On March 9, 2020 CoNPS signed on to a letter to the Council on Environmental Quality regarding the proposed changes to the NEPA regulations.
Eldorado State Park Visitor Use Plan
CoNPS Conservation Committee made public comment on the Eldorado Canyon State Park Visitor Use Management Plan: Eldorado Canyon Park Comment Eldorado State Park Carex sprengelii locations
Powderhorn Fuels Management Project
On November 18, 2019, CoNPS signed on to a letter written by Matt Reed, Public Lands Director with High Country Conservation Advocates and signed by fourteen other Colorado conservation organizations. The letter makes comment on the Bureau of Land Management's...
Fall 2019 Mission Grant Award Winner
The CoNPS Mission Grant committee awarded $750.00 to Jennifer Bousselot to support research on green roof effects on flowering phenology and pollinators.
July 29, 2019: CoNPS Signs on to GMUG Comment Letter
The CoNPS Conservation Committee signed on to comments made by the High Country Conservation Advocates and other conservation organizations regarding the Grand Mesa and Uncompagre Revised Forest Plan. The Committee also submitted our own comments which had a...
CoNPS Comments on the Jacks Gulch Fuels Management Plan
On July 2, 2019, CoNPS commented on the Jacks Gulch Fuels Management Plan in the Canyon Lakes Ranger District. The Forest Service plans to thin the forest in order to reduce the build-up of fuels that generate forest fires. CoNPS Comments on the project are...
CoNPS Comments on the Browns Canyon Natl. Monument RMP
On June 20, 2019 CoNPS signed on to a letter written by the Quiet Use Coalition regarding the Browns Canyon National Monument Resource Management Plan. The letter was co-signed by the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, the Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Wild...
Spring 2019 Mission Grant Award Winners
The CoNPS Spring 2019 Mission Grant committee awarded $700.00 to Mary Menz and the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose Colorado. The award will support interpretive signage about regional native plant communities and Ute ethnobotanical uses of local plants.
2019 John Marr Grant Awards
The John Marr Funded Grants to Four Researchers in 2019 Justin Bain – $800“Understanding how the floral nutrient landscape influences bee foraging, pollination, and the structure of plant-pollinator interaction networks” Emily Lockard – $800“Use of native...
CoNPS Comments on Taylor Park Logging Proposal
Taylor Park Vegetation Management Project CoNPS comments PDF
CoNPS Comments on Taylor Park Logging Project
CoNPS Comments on the Taylor Park Vegetation Management Project
CoNPS Supports the Use of Native Plants in NRCS Revegetation Projects
April 25, 2019 Kevin Norton Acting Associate Chief USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250 Re: Docket Number NRCS-2019-0003-0001 The undersigned organizations, representing conservation, wildlife, and agriculture...
April 5, 2019: CoNPS Comments on Amendments to the Clean Water Act
On April 5, 2019 CoNPS wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency strongly opposing the removal of wetlands, fens, small headwater streams, and ephemeral/intermittent drainage waters from EPA regulation through the clean water act. The letter follows...
2019 Myrna Steinkamp Grant Award Winner
The CoNPS Research Grants Committee has Chosen the Recipients for the 2019 Myrna Steinkamp Research Grants Denise Wilson - $1,000 “Monitoring Epipactis gigantea Populations Within Plots Subjected to Three Canada Thistle Eradication Methods.This adjunct study...
CoNPS Loses a Dear Friend, Don Hazlett
Remembering Don Hazlett Donald Lavern Hazlett, 69, of Pierce, Colorado, beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away peacefully at home on the morning of January 5, 2019. Don was born on September 3, 1949 in Pueblo, Colorado... Although, if you asked him, he...
CoNPS Comments on Monarch Pass Proposal
The US Forest Service requested comment on a forest management plan to treat forests on Monarch and Marshall Passes. Below is the comment which was written for CoNPS by Conservation Committee volunteer Gay Austin and signed by Mo Ewing, Chair of the committee....
CoNPS Comments on BLM December Oil and Gas Sale
The BLM December 2018 Oil and Gas Lease Sale was totally chaotic. In August, the BLM offered about 222,000 acres of lands for leasing. But a federal judge intervened, saying that the BLM didn't consider the impact on sage grouse habitat. On October 19, the BLM...
CoNPS Opposes Village at Wolf Creek
On August 31, 2018, Mo Ewing, the Chairman of the CoNPS Conservation Committee wrote a letter to the U.S. Forest Service opposing the granting of access to the developers of the proposed Village at Wolf Creek. The letter read as follows: Colorado Native Plant...
Conservation Committee August 2018 Update
CoNPS Conservation Committee 2018 Update – August 6, 2018 CoNPS Comment Letters Written: January 27: Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre & Gunnison National Forest (GMUG) - Draft Forest Assessment Identifying and Assessing at-Risk Species. April 6: BLM - Environmental...
CoNPS Signs Letter of Support for SCC
On July 1, 2018, CoNPS signed a letter of support for the preservation of South Canyon near Gunnison which is in danger of being developed. The South Canyon Coalition is in the process of trying to convince the City Council to buy the property to protect it from...
CoNPS on Grand Mesa, Uncompagre, Gunnison Forests Plan
On June 1, 2018, a team of CoNPS volunteers sent a letter to the Forest Plan Revision team of the Grand Mesa, Uncompagre and Gunnison Nationa Forest Service commenting on scoping process for the Forest Service plan. The comment team included extensive work by Brad...
CoNPS signs on to opposition to the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2
Alaska Wilderness League * Allegheny Defense Project Alpine Lakes Protection Society * Appalachian Voices * Arise for Social Justice Bark * Beaver Valley Preservation Alliance * California Native Plant Society Cascade Forest Conservancy * Cascadia Wildlands Center for...