Many natural areas and open spaces in Fort Collins’ foothills are crowded on the weekends. Illegal camping and trash have become common. But what about lesser -known sites along the Poudre River corridor like the CSU Environmental Learning Center? Is the “darker side” of natural areas touching this spot too?
The Colorado State University Environmental Learning Center (ELC) is a conserved natural area on East Drake Road. To find out more about it, I called Lauren Hughes, ELC’s Environmental Educator, and senior majoring in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources. She has worked at the ELC for three years. I’m Zoe Shark, I work for the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department, so I was curious what tough issues the ELC faces and how they work to resolve them.
Shark: Tell me about the ELC, if someone hadn’t been there, what is it like?
Hughes: Sure. Its really awesome because we have a lot of different ecosystems out there. It is 212 acres, its right along the Poudre bike trail, as well as the Poudre River. You can ride your bike down to the property which is really awesome. We have two loops, one is .6 miles and one is 1.2 miles, and it goes through prairie grasslands, we have a riparian area, we have one wetland area, we also have forested areas as well. It is adjacent to Running Deer Natural Area, so we get a lot of wildlife. It is common to see deer, or red-tailed hawks and stuff. So its pretty cool.
Shark: What do you do as an Environmental Educator?
Hughes: So I write a lot of lesson plans and then I put on lessons for K-12th graders. We kinda stick with elementary school students for the most-part though. So I’ll be out at the East Drake site teaching about wildlife, or stream ecology, macro-invertebrates, bugs, that kind of stuff. Its really fun.
Shark: Cool, that sounds good. What kind of challenges do you have with managing that site?
Hughes: We deal with invasive species like wooly mullein and Russian olive. Land management is hard because those are so hard to control. And then also we have younger kids, you know, high school age, they like to come out to the property and do not so great things, either in our parking lot or on the property. So we have had issues with that. And we don’t have this so much anymore, but we did have a couple of squatters, setting up shelters there. That was kind of hard as well. And with those last two groups, those come with problems like graffiti and that kind of stuff.
Shark: So there are some illegal activities like partying or camping?
Hughes: Exactly, and then a lot of times a lot of trash gets thrown out there and it messes with the wildlife and the land in general. Those are some problems I’ve recognized.
Shark: Do you guys struggle with crowding? That is facing some of the other natural areas around town. On weekends does your parking lot fill up?
Hughes: That is a really great question. I think the ELC isn’t as well known as say Horsetooth, but the people that know about it, they know it’s a great place to bring your entire family, so we definitely have the parking lot filling up on weekends. People have to park further away and walk in. And with that, our bathroom, we only have one, it gets pretty messy and kinda gross after a weekend. I think that has to do with the amount of people coming to the area.
Shark: So would you prefer that the site isn’t promoted, or do you think you are still looking to attract people to come visit? Or are you trying to say visitors should come at less popular times?
Hughes: Yeah, I’m kinda torn, because, me, I’m an outdoor recreator, and I want people to come see where I work, and hang out at the property because its really awesome. But at the same time, I do see people not being super respectful of the land which is bothersome. If it was up to me, maybe I’d say don’t come on the weekends, or if you see that the parking lot is filled up to turn around and go somewhere else or come back another day. I think that would help with the amount of people on our trails. But yeah, I still want the site to be promoted because its such a perfect place to bring families or bring people who might have a hard time accessing the natural areas that might be harder to hike on. The property is really great for that, so I want it to be known in the community, but it would be kinda cool if people didn’t come like as a crowd on the weekends.
Shark: What are your thoughts on how you address the trash, or illegal camping, or not following the rules, not respecting the site, yet promote it. What are your thoughts on walking that line?
Hughes: Yeah, I think that is where environmental education can really come in and be helpful. If we are teaching people of all ages Leave No Trace principles or this is what you do when you are out in nature. Our one rule out here is respect, we respect nature here. How do you respect nature? That is a great way to get people to visit, but also take care of them. And realize that you are going to have impacts on this site, so how you can have the least impact as possible?
Shark: Do you struggle with that dual message of trying to promote kids connecting to nature, and kids having free play, yet we are also trying to protect these sites. How do you come down on that discussion?
Hughes: I feel it is easy to incorporate those values when I am teaching. For example, if we are having lunch outside, and I see things flying around, like trash, I’m like, “Hold up guys, what is our first rule here? Respect. Is it respectful of nature for us to leave our trash out here?” Then they’ll come out and pick it up. Or we do fort building, and fort building is great, but we are trying to make this area look super natural. And having a bunch of forts isn’t the most natural of looks, so we talk to the kids. We say you can leave your fort up today, but it might be gone next week because, why would we want to do that? Is it good to keep this up here if its not natural to the environment? And they understand that, and they might be a little upset, but they do have an understanding of why that is necessary.
Shark: Did you ever have a group where they were not being respectful and by the end of the class they had an “aha moment”?
Hughes: Yeah, for sure. I was teaching a bugs and insects lesson for really little kids, kindergarten or first graders and there was one kiddo who was smooshing all the bugs. Not all the bugs, but…
Shark: Oh, goodness, I hate that!
Hughes: It was really a bummer and I kept having to tell him, “Hey is that respectful of nature?” and eventually his classmates joined in and reminded him, “Hey remember we are not going to smash these,” or “Gentle, gentle.” He finally got it in the end. Honestly it wasn’t on purpose, he would just get too excited and he would grab the bugs, and accidentally end up killing them, but after I stepped in a few times, and told him “Hey we really want to be respectful of these bugs and we want to keep them alive so that other kids can see them,” and I think after his classmates reminded him about being gentle and we respect nature, he was able to finally hold it and realize he did not need to squeeze it. That was really cool to see and then towards the end he was saying “I’ll be gentle, I’ll be gentle.”
Shark: So are you hopeful? Do you feel there is hope for the world, for the Environmental Learning Center property?
Hughes: There is definitely hope for it. As much as we are dealing with the impacts of people being on our natural areas, and its unfortunate that the land might be getting a little bit damaged, but I think that it is cool that people are getting out there and really experiencing it. I think that with more education and more of an inherent respect and value for nature maybe we can deal with those things. But if we are really going to take care of our lands, we need people to be connected to them first, and we need to get people to care about them first. I have hope, but it will be a lot of hard work.
Shark: I’m glad you are part of that group of people that are working hard to make it happen, and it gives me hope to have young people that have energy, and feel hope and are committed to it, so thank you for being a colleague in that effort! Thank you for doing the interview!