The city of Durango boasts about 3,000 acres of open space that will be preserved in perpetuity for hiking, biking and other forms of recreation.
The $18.5 million portfolio includes crown jewels such as Overend Mountain Park, Dalla Mountain Park and Horse Gulch. The Durango Open Space Preservation Program also features smaller inholdings, such as the Oxbow Preserve north of downtown Durango and strips of land along the Animas River. The city maintains the land, doing fire mitigation, trail work and other forms of upkeep to ensure it is well-preserved for future use.
Durango made its first purchases in the mid-1990s. Between 2009 and 2014, the city had its largest buying spree, acquiring 63% of the program’s total acreage in just five years.
But then it stopped. Since 2015, the city has acquired only about 25 acres of land designated as open space.
“There hasn’t been a direction to stop purchasing. Just some natural fluctuation,” said Scott McClain, assistant parks and recreation director.
The lull will end this year with the city’s fourth-largest open space acquisition ever.
In August, the city allocated $1.5 million to purchase 263 acres of land at Durango Mesa Park, formerly Ewing Mesa. The city’s largest acquisition was about 360 acres in 2010, according to city records.
The mesa is a prized, 1,850-acre section of undeveloped land that sits above Durango with views of the San Juan Mountains, accessed from Colorado Highway 3. It is owned by the Durango Mesa Park Foundation, a nonprofit organization tied to Marc Katz, co-founder of Mercury Payment Systems, now FIS Worldpay.
Almost all of the acquisition will be designated as open space, said Cathy Metz, director of Durango Parks and Recreation.
The purchase is part of a two-stage project. In 2021, the city will also purchase 592 acres from the foundation for park land, not open space. The $2.5 million project will add disc golf courses, bike parks, BMX tracks and more to the mesa.
Metz said the ebb and flow of acquisitions is partially about timing, specifically waiting for willing landowners. For example, the city was able to make more land purchases during the Great Recession because landowners were willing to sell, she said.
The lull was also caused in part by the real estate market and what was available, McClain said. The open space program also saw an influx of new funding with a 2005 sales tax, which likely spurred its growth, he said.
Kim Baxter, a Durango City Council member who served on the Natural Lands Preservation Advisory Board, said it was rewarding to bring parcels into the city.
“A lot of areas don’t have money to buy open space around their community. I think it’s just been awesome for us,” she said. “That said, I’m not sure how much more open space there is available.”
Even given the burst of acquisitions around 2010, the city still has opportunities to acquire more open space preservation areas, Metz said.
“When the opportunity is there and the requirements are met, we are willing to move forward with a preservation project,” she said.
As the program expands, Durango must navigate the balance between caring for the land it has and acquiring more land, city officials said.
More people have been using the trails, particularly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trail maintenance, signage and wildfire mitigation all need to be prioritized to balance passive recreation and land preservation, McClain said.
Funding for the program is also going to change, Baxter said. The 2005 sales tax will sunset in 2026, and all sales tax-based revenue has been affected by the pandemic’s economic impacts.
Baxter said ideally she wants to see an open space program that allows for connectivity between parks. But after Phase 2 of the Durango Mesa Park acquisition, she said the city should slow down and evaluate the open space program’s future.
“Anytime you have a program like this, you buy a whole bunch in the beginning,” Baxter said. “That’s what you’ve set the program out to do, and there’s a lot of land to buy. But I do think our opportunities are smaller, and we need to make sure we can maintain what we have.”
smullane@durangoherald.com
Durango Open Space
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