Open Space Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2017 09 13

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Open Space Advisory Board Minutes August 9th 2017 Page 4 of 6 He did pre -dawn transects and point counts, including distance sampling, a methodology that ideally provides density estimates. Unfortunately the counts were low which makes the calculations problematic. One of his take -away messages was that vertical structural diversity at sites promotes bird species diversity. Coyote Run is dominated by smooth brome grass and has low plant diversity, except on the western edge. Daughenbaugh is weedier, but more diverse. Warembourg has a lot of smooth brome and is surrounded by houses and their landscaping. In general, he saw and heard almost no birds in smooth brome. Almost all the birds were found in trees, wetlands, and houses' yards. He did see vesper sparrows in the weedy areas of Daughenbaugh. Counts were too low to calculate the Shannon - Weaver diversity index for the sites, everywhere except at the 2nd transect at Coyote Run, where he was able to calculate a SH index of 2.231. This said, Jerry felt that the City's Open Space is doing what it needs to do and he complimented the three areas for their low weed issues. Laura asked if his transects have been mapped/marked for future longitudinal studies. Jerry answered that they have been. Ember added that the City would also like to partner with Audubon in Denver to get a citizen scientist database of bird species. Jim asked what weeds attract the best bird diversity. Jerry answered that curly dock and mulleins attract seed -eaters, like grosbeaks. Jim asked whether any wildlife likes smooth brome habitat and Jerry answered that really nothing does: it's too thick for ground - nesting bird fledglings, toads, snakes, etc. which need a more patchy cover distribution. Jim asked whether native grasslands would be better habitat (note: smooth brome is not native grass). Jerry said they would, but cautioned that habitat remediation would require elimination of the smooth brome which could invite erosion and weed invasion. Jim asked how ospreys survive in Louisville Open Space and Jerry answered that while people call ospreys "fish eagles," they will actually eat prairie dogs. Fiona asked if there was a way to carve out openings within smooth brome to enhance habitat. Jerry cautioned that those openings would function as population sinks rather than as enhancers, as they would attract predators. Ember added that the current management is mostly to keep the brome weed -free and that eradication of brome and conversion to native would be a large undertaking requiring public input and Council support. Currently staff is working to keep the brome weed free and spending time restoring and enhancing areas that already have a native species present. IX. Discussion Item: Open Space Service Levels as Requested by City Council City Council and the City Manager's Office requested Open Space staff generate statistics of its service levels and compare them to Lafayette, Boulder County Parks & Open Space, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, and Jefferson County. Ember did her best to comply, asking these governments for their data and trying to product like -to -like comparisons. She shared her results with the board. Ember cautioned that the programs and the funding for these different entities are all very different and this exercise felt a little like comparing apples and oranges (some programs fund infrastructure and have extension services while others do not). Council (and OSAB) have expressed interesting in understanding relative funding levels for Open Space and Parks, which Ember attempted to do as requested. Ember suggested that this exercise may be more useful if we compared to programs that were more similar in size 5