Read the City’s own “Foothills Management Plan - Update 2019” regarding the importance of reducing habitat fragmentation to create interconnectivity between patches of habitat for the conservation of our local foothills fauna and flora.

A protected City Natural Area is the most unifying, inclusive, and protective use for the Old Hughes Stadium land, a place that people of ALL abilities, ages, and backgrounds can enjoy.

Let’s finish what we started for the benefit of ALL members of the Fort Collins community and the local wildlife that are returning to the land. Let’s make Hughes a protected City Natural Area. Because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

It is crystal clear that more residents want Natural Areas/wildlife habitat and soft surface and paved trails than want another bike park in Fort Collins. And that those outdoor recreational uses are a priority investment for the City. No amount of cherry-picking of data will change that.

There has been a lot of disinformation-style messaging coming from lobbying groups trying to twist the legislative intent of the Hughes ballot measure.

So, here’s the gist of our position about Hughes and the legislative intent of the conservation-focused citizen initiative, so others can’t continue to flood public venues and social media with misinformation.

There has been a lot of focus on the “land uses” in the Ordinance langue for Hughes Open Space. Equally important are the WHEREAS statements in the Ordinance, though these important clauses are receiving little to no attention.

Make sure when reading the Ordinance language, you also focus on the WHEREAS statements.

While the amount of content skewed toward the vocal bike park lobby, it was pretty clear from this CBS news story (below) that the bike park lobby is stretching the legislative intent of the word "recreation" for their own high-impact large-scale bike park that would only serve a few in our community, and would negatively impact Hughes and the sensitive ecotone along the adjacent protected areas.

If you haven’t heard the Hughes episode of Fort Collins Through Another Lens, it’s a must-listen!

A PATHS organizer discusses some of the many questions and concerns around the experimental Civic Assembly process with podcast host, Trish Babbitt.

Hello Friends and Neighbors,
There is a lot going on with Hughes Open Space these days, and it’s not good. We’ve been quietly watching the shenanigans around Hughes, particularly with regard to the City’s “Future of Hughes” tactics. Apparently, City leaders forgot that voters decided to conserve Hughes as open space in a landslide in April of 2021 (~69% of voters said YES!).