Page 10 - Ranger Manual 2017_Neat

Important dates in Boulder’s open space program development
▪ 1898 – Residents purchased the Bachelder Ranch alfalfa fields and apple orchards (Chautauqua
Park presently). A bond issue paid for the purchase.
▪ 1907 – Boulder received 1,600 acres of federal grant land on Flagstaff Mountain.
▪ 1912 – Boulder citizens purchased another 1,200 acres of Flagstaff Mountain for $1.25 an acre.
▪ 1959 – Leading citizen’s organization working to ensure environmental sustainability in the City of
Boulder and across Boulder County—PLAN Boulder County—was formed; group has successfully
campaigned for many land preservation issues.
▪ 1959 – A charter amendment was passed, establishing a “blue line” above which city water would
not be supplied.
▪ 1964 – Citizens organized to protest the planned development of a luxury hotel on Enchanted Mesa;
Boulder City Council voted to condemn the land and force its sale. Activists raised small donations
from the community until they reached the purchase price.
▪ 1967 – Boulder voters made history by approving a 0.40 of one cent sales tax specifically to buy,
manage, and maintain open space, the first time citizens in any U.S. city had voted to tax
themselves specifically for open space. The sales tax measure passed by a 57 percent majority.
▪ 1971 – A charter amendment passed, allowing Boulder City Council to issue bonds for the
acquisition of open space. The City of Boulder hired Dick Lyman to be its first full-time park
ranger.
▪ 1973 – Citizen activists successfully called for creation of a separate open space department focused
on acquiring and maintaining natural land; Boulder City Council created the Open Space Board of
Trustees.
▪ 1975 – Anne Wichmann was hired as a park ranger for the Mountain Parks Department. She
became the first full-time female park ranger in the State of Colorado.
▪ 1978 – The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan was adopted.
▪ 1986 – A charter amendment was passed with 77 percent voter approval, which provided for more
permanent open space protection.
▪ 1989 – Seventy-six percent voter approval added 0.33 of one cent to the sales tax for a period of 15
years to accelerate open space preservation; in 1997, voters extended the tax through 2018.
▪ 2003 – Voters added 0.15 of one-cent sales tax through 2019 to fund continued land acquisitions
and maintenance.
▪ 2013 – Voters approved a tax measure extending 0.22 cent of the 0.33-cent sales tax that was set to
expire in 2018; that tax now expires in 2034. After Jan. 1, 2035, the 0.22-cent tax will drop to 0.1
cent, and will be permanently dedicated to open space purposes. Additionally, a ballot measure
passed that allows the 0.15-cent sales tax to sunset at the end of 2019. After the tax expires, it will
be extended but allocated for other city purposes.

The current OSMP Department was formed in 2001, blending two separate city entities that
oversaw natural lands managed by the City of Boulder. The OSMP Department is the result of
merging the Open Space Real Estate Department, which was primarily charged with acquiring and
managing the natural areas that surround Boulder, with the Mountain Parks Division of Parks and
Recreation, which managed Red Rocks, Chautauqua Park, Flagstaff Mountain, and the Flatirons
for decades prior to the merger.

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