Jeffco Open Space announced Friday that it will close the Elk Meadow Dog Off-leash Area in Evergreen in its entirety on Tuesday, April 4.

The Elk Meadow dog park has multiple safety and environmental challenges that need to be addressed immediately, an Open Space news release stated. Earlier this month, Open Space evaluated keeping an eight-acre parcel open for park visitor enjoyment. It has become apparent that this would help address some concerns, but not all, the release stated.

In addition, this scenario was not embraced by many Elk Meadow stakeholders. After considering the facts, issues, perspectives and risks, Open Space decided to close all 107 acres of Elk Meadow for major restoration and to address safety concerns, the release stated.

The closure will be strictly enforced in accordance with Jeffco Open Space regulation C.5. Natural Resources Protection that carries a $100 fine for the first offense.

http://www.canyoncourier.com/content/el ... ly-april-4

I wonder if Americans have stopped being good citizens. Two dog parks in the metro area are closing down because people aren't picking up after their canines. And one suburb just raised the fine limit for not picking up because there is too much waste in city parks.

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"The Mountains Are Calling, And I Must Go." John Muir

It's a symptom of wider cultural disease and malaise; collectively, a generation and beyond has been programmed all of their lives to consume, to treat themselves 'right,' that they are the proper center of reality, and that existence is about being constantly gratified and expressing identity through capitalistic markets. What room does that leave for respecting a social, cultural, or public commons? "Don't they have have paid staff to pick up my poo? Won't it just turn back to dirt? Maybe they should install a gate and charge membership to pay for the professional pooper scooper and keep the poor poops out. They're the real problem!" Etc. This is just a microcosm of what we collectively do to ourselves and the treasure of this land, and it's what we have done to the planet itself on a global scale. We've been infiltrated and riddled with parasitic attitude and it despoils the world. Soon it will go beyond "this is why we can't have nice things," to "this is how the world ended," if there is not an epic course correction and soon. We no longer have the luxury of time.

I love that statement. Ancient ruins have to be re-buried to save them from public destruction. Graffiti on national
treasures. Good citizens are becoming outnumbered.

As for process, what's up with Jeffco? Holding public problem solving meetings for solutions, announcing closure, then negotiating with the community for partial closure, with full closure likely all along. People were annoyed for engaging
in meaningless exercises, with protective measures called upon too late.

It's a bit frustrating watching some of the so called Friends of Evergreen Dog Park shrug their own responsibilities and lay blame solely on Jeffco .
1. "Jeffco should have enforced the pet waste pick up issue." Sure, but just maybe y'all could have been better pet owners and picked up after your own pets! No, you waited until hundreds of pounds had to accumulate then 'volunteered' to pick it up.
2. "Jeffco could have monitored the trails and landscaping better." Maybe you owners could have not created short cuts and social trails or hopped fences, or trespassed on neighboring properties. Maybe not letting the dogs go right to the creek and screwing up the creek bed and bank. By the way the 80 step staircase on the back side is a death trap in winter. So now there are steep eroded cuts on either side.
3. "Jeffco ignores the Stagecoach Blvd. parking issues." They added a whole new parking lot. Maybe if the users learned to park and realized they shouldn't be using the shoulder in 'NO PARKING AREAS' along the roadway. If the lots area full, go somewhere else.

The place became too popular and all are to blame. Jeffco should have closed parts of this park down 3 years ago to re-vegetate but no doubt they would have been barked at for that too.

The entitlement mentality is on full display in my opinion. Especially those that don't think that their dogs will survive without being off leash. Dogs have the incredible ability to get exercise while on a leash. The only problem is that it requires that the owner get exercise too.

This new plan with membership dues and DNA testing of pets and dog poop? No thanks. You did such a poor job policing yourself before when it was under Jeffco control, how are people s'posed to believe that you will do even a slightly better job on your own? Colorado is too big to be stuck in one small, overused and overpopulated dog park. Get out and explore. You probably don't know what you are missing.

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Well said. Although I do wish Jeffco had issued warnings earlier and skipped the mixed messages.
Where all the professional dog walkers and out-of-towners will go? It's too bad. Many responsible owners cherished
that park.

At the end of the day, water quality and protecting the environment we all love matters more.