City of Lafayette Wildlife Plan
- Award Year: 2024
- Award Category: Analysis and Planning
- Award Designation: Merit Award
- Client: City of Lafayette
- Location: Lafayette, CO
- Photography credit: Dig Studio / Biohabitats
VISION: The Project covers a city-wide network of over 1,700 acres of parks and open space, grouped together by their general subareas shown above, along with images of representative focal wildlife species.
OPEN SPACE OPPORTUNITIES ANALYSIS: The study area included an “influence area” based on a buffer around the City where activities and land uses affect the habitat in parks and open spaces. Photographs of example habitat types show the range of conditions that were included.
MEETING PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE: The City of Lafayette has a unique relationship to their local wildlife. Dedicated City Staff advertised the Plan heavily, bringing an astounding number of residents in for feedback through early public engagement events and a month-long survey.
ACTIVE LISTENING AND LEARNING: The Plan was created thanks to deeply committed City Staff and Residents of Lafayette. Meaningfully gathering feedback from the community was a necessary component of the Plan to ensure support for the Plan, including recommended policies and strategies.
HYDROLOGY & FLOODPLAIN: Maintaining hydrological connection between creeks and adjacent low areas is important for ecological functions including groundwater recharge, nutrient cycling, stormwater management, and supporting biodiversity. The flashy creek hydrograph explains the degraded bank areas in need of restoration and better stormwater management
ECOSYSTEM HEALTH & CONNECTIVITY: Existing connectivity data provided a baseline of regional, concentrated wildlife movement areas and gaps. Opportunities for improvements include adapted culverts to facilitate wildlife crossings and reduce habitat fragmentation by roads that create barriers and increase the risk of animal-vehicle collisions.
VEGETATION COMMUNITIES: Existing plant communities were mapped for select open space properties to classify habitat types (herbaceous, riparian, wetland, and agricultural) and score them according to habitat-specific metrics such as native species richness and cover, weed occurrences, hydrologic condition, and restoration potential.
WILDLIFE SURVEY FINDINGS: The wildlife surveys used a variety of methods to identify and document a range of animal groups including birds, small mammals, amphibians, and nocturnal species. The plan calls for on-going observation and habitat restoration efforts in these areas.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Recommendations include developing a network of connected habitat areas in priority areas through the City using Open Space, parks, corridors, wildlife crossings, and pollinator patches to reduce fragmentation within the urban fabric.
Summary
In a time of critical biodiversity loss and multiple stresses to habitat from rapid urban development and increased recreational pressure, the City of Lafayette, Colorado is demonstrating strong leadership with the development of its first-ever Wildlife Management Plan. The Plan applies a holistic approach to urban wildlife conservation and planning through the lens of wildlife equity. Landscape ecology principles laid the foundation for the entire process, which included extensive community outreach, GIS analysis, habitat field assessments, wildlife surveys, and development of best practices and recommended policy actions. The wildlife surveys used a variety of methods to identify and document a range of animal groups including birds, small mammals, amphibians, and nocturnal species. A key aspect of the Plan was to identify habitat connectivity priorities based on habitat vulnerability and risk. Most importantly, the Plan offers a model for other communities to follow on approaches for identifying significant opportunities and challenges and how valuable wildlife habitat can be stewarded for the benefit of both animals and people!
Narrative
Purpose and Approach
The vision of the City of Lafayette Wildlife Plan (Plan) is to ensure the long-term protection of local ecosystems and foster “wildlife equity” and coexistence. Developing the Wildlife Plan involved several tasks including reviewing available data, engaging with the public and advisors, researching wildlife species, conducting field assessments, and developing recommended strategies and best practices. The purpose of Plan is to provide a City-wide guide for strategic actions that protect and improve biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. The Plan also provides a compendium of technical and policy resources that can be used at different scales—regional, City, and residential—to inspire improved ecological stewardship.
Role
Landscape architects led community engagement, planning policy research and recommendations, visual communication of the City’s ecological systems and connectivity, and were critical to facilitating dialogue with the client and other team members. The visual communication role, in particular, was of the utmost importance for bridging the project’s technical findings with on-the-ground implementors and community. For example, landscape architects provided a concept diagram of how the City can develop a network of connected habitat areas, including open space, parks, corridors, wildlife crossings, and pollinator patches, which also support the City’s sustainability, transportation, and climate goals.
Context
The Plan was developed in the context of multiple planning initiatives, and therefore, it strived to integrate various local and regional factors including open space connectivity, multi-modal circulation, and hydrology. At the outset, a “contributing area” was established beyond the core planning area to capture relationships between the City resources to the surrounding areas. Geospatial data from multiple sources within the broader contributing area were then synthesized and analyzed to identify where wildlife movement could be best supported within the urban conditions.
Special Factors
While the City has a good diversity of habitat types across its nearly 1,700 acres of open space properties, most areas are low functioning and in need of large-scale restoration and improvement. As elsewhere in Colorado, changes in available water are also negatively impacting wildlife habitats. Other major threats include habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species, lack of diversity, and impacts from being close to human activities. Thus, the project had the challenge and opportunity to work with a passionate community, committed to wildlife and ecosystem health, but faced with a plethora of stresses on their landscape and needing help with strategic action planning and policy support.
Environmental Sensitivity and Sustainability
This Wildlife Plan overlaps with sustainability-related topics by providing an understanding of the environmental setting, creating a framework for Open Space protection that incorporates ecosystem services to support community health, and recommending adaptive management strategies to address climate resilience. The small mammal survey work also encountered a species of high conservation need, Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, living within the study area which was addressed immediately and in the document.
Significance
This Wildlife Plan provides a technical foundation for upcoming Open Space operations and planning activities. Near-term, the Plan can be used to prioritize the department’s annual work planning and address immediate management needs such as protecting a declining wetland area, conserving additional Rock Creek corridor habitat, and invasive species control. Mid- to near-term, the Plan can help estimate staff resource needs, develop restoration plans, as well as inform collaboration with other departments and outside agencies to leverage joint efforts and fill data gaps. Long term, the Plan can be revisited every five years to adjust planning, determine most successful management practices, and address gaps as needed.
Overall success of the Plan will mean it helps to achieve increased biodiversity, increased plant and animal species abundance, ecological resilience, balance of passive recreation and protected habitat, and preservation of ecosystem for future generations. Those outcomes represent significant uplift for the local community as well as the landscape architecture community. And this project broadens people’s understanding of the role of landscape architects in supporting ecological stewardship at larger scales.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Project Features
The Lafayette Wildlife Plan begins with the City’s Land Acknowledgement recognizing indigenous roots and history and expressing gratitude to the Native American peoples who lived and worked the land through time.
Mapping of socially-vulnerable communities is also provided using the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) index. All outreach was bilingual, and survey flyers were distributed broadly to reach as many members of the community as possible.
The Goals and Objectives section includes a Sustainability and Resilience goal to “Coordinate Open Space management with other department’s sustainability efforts to support ecosystem resilience as well as community health. Along with the objective to Collaborate inter-departmentally to identify ways to integrate nature-based solutions for multiple benefits, including to support wildlife connectivity, native plant communities, retain water to reduce runoff, conserve water, reduce heat island effects, provide access to nature in socially vulnerable parts of City.
Plant List
N/A
Team Members
Biohabitats – Ecological Planning
- Claudia Browne, CE – Project Manager
- Susan Sherrod, PhD, PWS, CE – Senior Ecologist
- Aiman Duckworth, PLA, ASLA –Landscape Ecologist
- Hanna Harper – GIS Specialist
- Caroline Hildebrand – Environmental Scientist
- Tony Ignacio, PLA – Landscape Architect (contractor)
Dig Studio – Landscape Planning
- Gretchen Wilson, PLA, ASLA – Principal in Charge
- Sara Peppers, PLA – Project Manager
Documents and Media
Planning Docs (if applicable):