Like many plans by Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr., the 1908 plan for the City of Boulder emphasized open space preservation, in this case calling for the creation of vast parklands in the surrounding foothills and mountains. Now, a century later, Boulder’s Open Space & Mountain Parks protect over 45,000 acres and offer 130 miles of trails. With this encircling greenbelt, Boulder sometimes feels like a city tucked into a national park. In short, Boulder has amazingly brought much of Olmstead’s original vision to life.

Chautauqua Meadow at dawn creates a fitting setting for the Flatirons, the red sandstone cliffs that form a backdrop for Boulder.

Boulder lies at the base of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5,430 feet, only 25 miles northwest of downtown Denver. Between 1950 and 1970, the population of Boulder more than tripled, fueled partly by growing enrollment at the University of Colorado. Alarmed at this rate of expansion, a group of citizens founded the organization “PLAN Boulder” in 1959. As its first effort, PLAN Boulder spearheaded a ballot measure to establish a “Blue Line”, effectively precluding development above the elevation of the City’s water reservoir. The voters overwhelmingly approved the initiative, putting a sizeable speed bump in the path of sprawl and giving PLAN Boulder the encouragement to tackle other projects.

In 1967, PLAN Boulder used the Olmstead plan to urge approval of a one-cent retail sales tax of which 40 percent would be dedicated to greenbelt acquisition. The campaign also used a highly effective poster of children frolicking in the Chautauqua Meadows in front of the Flatirons, the iconic, red sandstone cliffs that form the backdrop for Boulder. The voters approved the measure by a 57 percent margin, making this the first time citizens of any US city had voted to approve a tax for open space acquisition and maintenance.

Surrounding the City of Boulder, Boulder County is famous in its own right for open space acquisition, funded by a combination of property tax ($3.6 million annually), proceeds from lottery funds, a 0.25 percent county-wide sales tax passed in 1993 (which supports $135 million in bond sales) and a 0.10 percent County-wide recycling tax (allowing another $80 million in bond proceeds.)

The County uses no fewer than 11 different preservation techniques including a nationally-recognized transferable development rights program in which seven incorporated cities have voluntarily agreed to allow increased density within their city limits in order to reduce development potential on land under County jurisdiction. These inter-jurisdictional transfers allow the cities to implement their goals to protect farmland, critical natural areas, greenbelts and community separators.

The federal government owns much of western Boulder County. The northwestern corner of the County is protected by Rocky Mountain National Park, which is dominated by the sheer granite face of Longs Peak, elevation 14,259 feet. The western border of the County, which is defined by the ridges of the Continental Divide, is largely protected by portions of the 76,000-acre Indian Peaks Wilderness and the 14,000-acre James Peak Wilderness. The interior of Boulder County is predominately owned by the Bureau of Land Management or the National Forest Service. Colorado’s El Dorado Canyon State Park contributes a 1,392-acre playground for rock climbers. Boulder County itself adds 51,000 acres of open space and protects another 18,000 acres with conservation easements. In addition to the 45,000 acres in the Boulder City park system, another 35,800 acres throughout the County are preserved by other public agencies and private organizations for open space, watershed protection and conservation. In total, roughly two thirds of Boulder County is publicly-owned and/or permanently-protected open space.

Ruth Wright, an early board member of PLAN Boulder sums it up as follows: “Every time I drive in from Denver and I come over the mesa and look down at Boulder, I know that all that beauty, all that open space and the mountain backdrop will be there forever. We have done this for the children…and their children…and their children. It’s forever.”* Curt Gerstle, former chairperson of PLAN Boulder, puts it this way. “In 100 years, we will be long gone and everything else we have done will be forgotten except for one thing…that open space.”*

* Quotes are from interviews conducted on 6/26/2 and 10/4/2. They are provided by the Maria Rogers Oral History Program of the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder, CO.