Open Space Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2023 05 10

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Open Space Advisory Board Minutes April 12, 2023 Page 2 of 9 overhang, which alters food and shading. This can change the community composition of the riparian ecosystem. They predicted that the Golf Course site would show direct impacts from the fire and the Tech Center site would show indirect impacts. They measured multiple stream physical attributes, basic water chemistry, and macroinvertebrate and fish community health metrics. Big alterations included an increase in fine sediment load at the Golf Course site and a decrease at the Tech Center site. They also found a decrease in cobble embeddedness at both sites. Macroinvertebrate community scores decreased slightly, but not significantly, and both sites still reached a threshold of "attainment of biological integrity, as defined by State of Colorado protocol. Most of the fish community scores did not change significantly, but they were rated at a low threshold of integrity. It is unclear what that implies for a Colorado stream, as the thresholds had been set by Oklahoma standards. In conclusion, the researchers did not see a significant decline in biological integrity from the Marshall Fire. They noted that a long-term study might see some changes over time and recommended further monitoring. They added that CU is doing a stream chemistry project at the same sites, which might yield more information. Jessamine asked whether they expect these findings to change over time. They thought some of the physical attributes could continue to change over time, but the macroinvertebrate and fish didn't seem to have changed much due to the fire, and most of the species are rated tolerant and resilient. Helen asked what they would describe as their greatest lesson from the study. Matt replied that he was impressed how resilient the system was and how well it recovered. Ceiteag agreed and added that she felt long-term monitoring is valuable. Michiko asked how the City and citizens can support the recovery of the Coal Creek. Matthew said that he noticed how many golf balls were in the stream and thought a lot about chemicals. He thought that the City being careful about golf course management practices could help. Ceiteag thought development near the stream should be mindful of stream impacts. 7. Discussion Item: Brainstorming a Process for Social Trail Review for Director Consideration. Presented by Charles Danforth, OSAB Member. Charles gave some background on the current thinking of the Trails Team. He reported that there are three kinds of trails on Louisville open space: concrete and crusher fines trails are official City trails, and single-track dirt trails which are all unofficial, "social trails." The Tiger Team has mapped many of the City's social trails. Charles shared a map of Warembourg Open Space that they had made, showing social trails in red. He reported that some of the social trails are barely traceable, while others are very wide. A social trail that had been closed by the City was shown by green hatches. There is no appetite to do a major evaluation or overhaul of social trails in the City at this time. The Tiger Team has a plan to classify current and emerging social trails into four categories, based on management intent: Restore to wild state, Ignore, Designate as an official network trail (but otherwise leave it alone, creating a third type of City trail), or Upgrade to crusher fines or concrete.