You Are Invited to Review the Draft
Santa Fe Open Space Master Plan!
 
 
El Paso County Parks invites you to download and review the draft Santa Fe Open Space Master Plan.  The plan addresses conservation, trails, open space, recreation, and cultural services needs, so El Paso County Parks can continue to provide the facilities and services that citizens value.  The Master Plan provides guidance for the next seven to ten years for capital improvements, construction of open space amenities, implementation of educational programs, and operations and maintenance.
The draft Master Plan is available to download in Adobe PDF format at the following online locations:

• Direct Link:  https://communityservices.elpasoco.com/wp-content/uploads/Parks_Planning/SFOS-Master-Plan-Web-DRAFT.pdf
• Santa Fe Open Space Webpage:  https://communityservices.elpasoco.com/parks-and-recreation/santa-fe-open-space/
• Park Planning Webpage:  https://communityservices.elpasoco.com/parks-planning/

 
Please send your comments to Ross Williams, El Paso County Community Services Park Planner via email at rosswilliams@elpasoco.com by Wednesday, February 17^th.  Thank you!

Thanks,
FOMP

FOMP is pleased to announce our February 2021 Board Meeting

Meeting Time:
Tuesday, February 9th at 7:00 PM

NOTE:

Due to COVID guidelines we are doing a Zoom meeting. If you wish to attend please RSVP to info@fomp.org and further login details will be provided.

Board Member Updates

• President and Vice President update.
• Secretary and Treasurer update.

Topics

• Public Comment Period for target shooting, and latest virtual public meetings.
• Discuss/agree on weekday work date for Town of Monument employees, follow up to Madeline VanDer Hoek call.
• Tri-Lakes Chamber.
• Sign research and order planning.
• Apex Race.
• Sasquatch Run.
• Review/discuss revised Trailforks based work plan; outline projects, degree of difficulty, priorities.

Open Discussion

Thanks,
FOMP

The scoping period begins for the Integrated Management of Target Shooting (open until Feb 21st). This project will affect recreational shooting on the Pikes Peak, South Platte, and South Park Ranger Districts. The Pike National Forest encompasses more than 1.1 million, and our little local Pikes Peak Ranger district covers 230,000 acres.

The existing rules for Target Shooting may have been fine on the USFS land when El Paso county population was small, but with the city/county exploding to 1 million people, this is no longer feasible. The inherent risks to public safety, wildfires, resource damage, and trash accumulation from Target Shooting are unfortunately no longer tolerable. We are not advocating anything extreme, only to have Target Shooting in designated areas and not on mixed-use trail areas that we use recreationally for hiking, running, biking, equestrian, etc. We can only bike or drive a motorized vehicle in designated areas/trails/roads, so why not the same for target shooting? The USFS needs to have a system-wide answer to the issue, not just the current band-aid closure methodology.

We have no issues with Target Shooting in specifically designated areas, just not on heavily trafficked trail areas.

So please comment on this crucial topic: Integrated Management of Target Shooting on the Pike National Forest #57807

Thank You,

FOMP