Special Interests Really Want their Gold Ring at Hughes
Friends and Neighbors, let’s think about the big picture for one moment.
The Rocky Mountain Raptor Center, The Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, and the Mountain Bike Park Lobby via Overland Mountain Bike Association have formed a coalition to work against the community's 10-year conservation effort to save Hughes for all, against our own indigenous leaders and allies. These enterprises are working against conservationists to permanently develop and scar the Hughes land for their own organizational ambitions. (Some even watched closely and tattled to Councilmembers on indigenous community members and allies who dared to get in the way of the gift that Councilmembers promised them.)
What does that say about the conservation ethic and respect for community of these organizations?
Hughes appears to be their Gold Ring to be pushed and pulled, sliced and diced and doled out, until the Hughes land as we know it is no more, exploited once again for land consumption and development, and transferred to private interests for their own monetary and self-serving gain. Part of the land could even be transferred out of the public trust and into private hands, as the Raptor Center leadership have repeatedly said they wanted.
We, Friends of Hughes Natural Area, our indigenous leaders, our allies, our volunteers, and members, want to protect Hughes in the public trust for future generations, for non-destructive low impact recreation, for wildlife returning to the land, and for community members of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities — as a Natural Area. We hope you’ll stand with us as you have countless times in the past. To save Hughes:
✅️ Vote YES on 303
❌ And Vote NO on 2H
Voters MUST do BOTH to save Hughes, because Council has put their collective thumb on the scale of the outcome so it is tilted in favor of their development proposal.
Stop the City's giveaway to favored monied special interests who care more for their own ambitions than the broader community. Don’t let Hughes become a playground for the privileged.
FACT: The most unifying, inclusive, protective, and the ONLY 100% FUNDED use for Hughes is as a designated City Natural Area. A Hughes Natural Area would serve the community as a LOW-IMPACT multiuse designation (low-impact recreation while conserving diminishing wildlife habitat and migration routes).
The 3 Steps to Save Hughes:
1.ZONE (2021) ✅ 2.ACQUIRE (2023)✅
3.PROTECT (2025)! (VOTE YES ON 303 ! , AND NO on 2H !
