Agricultural Management

Boulder County's Parks and Open Space Agricultural Resources Division has two essential elements for a successful agricultural program: sound land management and a large pool of competent operators willing to lease open-space agricultural properties. They oversee 120 leases with 75 tenants. Staff time is spent negotiating lease terms and tracking rent and crop production, as well as:

• Evaluating and exercising water rights, lining and maintaining irrigation ditches and reservoirs on County Open Space
• Installing center-pivot irrigation systems to cut water use in half and reduce soil erosion by 95%
• Fencing cropland and riparian areas to reduce damage from grazing livestock
• Re-vegetating lands taken out of production and converting marginal cropland back to grassland
• Mapping properties using GIS to track and compare farm yields and efficiencies
• Combating noxious weeds on open space and throughout the County.

The Agricultural Resources Division also works cooperatively with the Colorado State University Extension Office on agricultural issues, master gardening, beekeeping, composting, food preserving, and small acreage management.

PDF Documents

• Barb Wire Post Quarterly Newsletter (330KB pdf)
• GMO Protocols (154KB pdf)
• Reservoir and Ditch Map 2MB pdf)

More Info

• Contact the Agricultural Resources Manager David Bell at 303-678-6234.
• Contact the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

 

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