Great Outdoors Colorado has awarded a $20,000 grant to study birds at Oxbow Park and Preserve.
Nine projects from across the state were awarded $140,000 in funding, said GOCO spokeswoman Laura Cardon.
GOCO, which funds improvements to outdoor spaces in Colorado, gets its funding from the Colorado Lottery.
The grant was awarded through GOCO’s Innovation Fund, which provides an opportunity for regional Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff to apply for grant funding.
Projects selected for funding have had a positive impact on communities and have no other funding alternatives, Cardon said.
The Oxbow bird study, called the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship program, was in danger of running out of funding, so the grant will ensure the study continues in future years, she said.
To be statistically significant, the study had to run through 2018, said CPW southwest Land Use Coordinator Brian Magee. This funding will allow it to do so.
The study is in its fifth year, and the GOCO grant will allow the study to go on until at least 2020.
As a result of the study, researchers will be able to better understand what species live near Oxbow and what they do there.
The city of Durango adopted its Oxbow Park and Preserve Management Plan in 2016, and in the future, plans to develop a parking area, boat ramp and an extension of the Animas River Trail.
Studying the species in the area will help determine the impact of this development, Magee said.
As of January, more than 90 species have been identified at the preserve.
Oxbow Park and Preserve sits along the Animas River and can be accessed from Animas View Drive. The southern end is the park portion, which is popular among river users. The northern end makes up the preserve. The interior of the preserve is closed to public access, however, there is a natural-surface trail around the perimeter.
rsimonovich@durangoherald.com
