Indian Peaks Group Conservation Committee

Minutes

Committee Meeting November 1st 2006

1. INTRODUCTIONS.

Those present were Deirdre Butler, Kirk Cunningham, Bev Baker, Mary Skumanich, and Wayne Schnell. Wayne is the new IPG Open Space Chair. He has lived in Boulder for 12 years and has only recently got involved with the Club as Open Space Chair and also as a member of the Sprawl and Transportation Committee.

2. WILDLIFE UPDATES

Deirdre Butler, IPG Wildlife Chair Deirdre, along with the Prairie Dog Coalition, has been working on a plan to relocate approximately 15 prairie dogs from an area NE of the intersection of Arapahoe Rd. and 47th St, where the City is upgrading that intersection. Joe McDonald, a long-time Sierra Club member and an official with Boulder Community Hospital, has offered to let those animals be relocated into an area NW of the BCH campus on Arapahoe where the City holds a conservation easement with the Hospital. Unfortunately, to allow the relocation appears to require a vote of both the Open Space Board of Trustees and the City Council, and the deadline for doing this is Friday, November 3rd because of the beginning of the intersection reconstruction schedule. This will be difficult if not impossible given the City's rules about decision-making, although City Manager Frank Bruno has been very helpful.

Meanwhile, all the prairie dogs have been trapped and are being held for use in the black-footed ferret recovery program. Deirdre said that in principle it would be possible to house the captured prairie dogs a couple more weeks to allow the City's decision process to take place, and she was pursuing that option. She is also worried that the City's trapping contractor has a bad record for treatment of trapped animals.

(Note: Deirdre reported to me on the 3rd that the Division of Wildlife had denied a permit for relocating the animals, regardless of any action taken by the City of Boulder - Kirk Cunningham)

3. NATIONAL FOREST UPDATES - Kirk Cunningham

Pictures of the Saturday, September 2nd wetland restoration project at Yankee Doodle Lake near Rollins Pass were passed around, and some will be posted on the IPG website. It was a well-designed and executed project and should restore some wet areas damaged by off-highway vehicles using the area.. Eight Sierra Club members participated. Several jeep clubs were also involved in the restoration project.

4. OPEN SPACE UPDATE - Wayne Schnell

Wayne attended a recent public meeting held by the Boulder Open Space Board of Trustees on the Doudy Draw-Eldorado Mountain trails plan. He viewed it as a strange process pitting preservation-minded groups against recreation groups with over more than four hours of testimony. In the end, the Board of Trustees approved a slightly modified version of the staff proposal. The major points of contention were a proposed new trail through good wildlife habitat south and west of the Denver Water Dept.'s water supply canal and what uses should be allowed on that trail and others.

5. SOME SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT THE IPG ENDORSEMENT
OF BALLOT INITIATIVE 2B - Kirk Cunningham

This initiative was the subject recently of a public hearing before the Boulder Water Resources Advisory Board, where a representative of the American Dental Association, the initiative proponents, and the public commented. Some interesting points became more clear in this discussion that were less apparent during the IPG's endorsement deliberations:
a) The Boulder Water Utility had found a purer source of fluoride for adding to drinking water than the current fertilizer product by-product, and for a price that is only 2-3 times what they pay now. This is contrary to statements from the Water Utility that appeared in the press or public documents earlier.
b) The wording of the initiative, if interpreted strictly, would prevent the addition to drinking water of ANY fluoridating agent unless it had "zero arsenic and lead" in it. From a chemical standpoint, "zero" is not a practical reality, but if it were interpreted as "below detection limits," then one or two fluoride sources might be OK as long as it was not legally challenged.
c) The possible role of the FDA in approving fluoride addition is more complicated than we originally understood it to be. There are at least two interpretations of the FDA's legal responsibilities, including some apparent confusion within the agency. In addition, the FDA has allowed considerably greater concentrations of arsenic in bottled water (which it does regulate) than would be added by the present fluoridating agent, so the practical advantage of FDA regulation of fluoridation is uncertain.
d) The initiative's publicity does have a deceptive aspect to it because it would, for practical purposes, ban fluoride addition completely, but that is not the apparent message. It would have been better in retrospect to simply ban fluoride, or perhaps, simply undo the initiative that mandated fluoride addition originally, and let science and not politics guide the amount and purity of fluoride added.

6. DISCUSSION OF OTHER BALLOT MEASURES.

Mary Skumanich asked some questions about referendum 202, i.e. whether the money raised would fund employees or practical programs. Kirk tried to explain the understanding that the Ex-Com had about what this referendum would do when we endorsed it.

7. ADJOURNMENT. About 8:30 pm.

Kirk Cunningham, IPG Conservation Chair

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