Dave Marvin
After retiring in 2008, Dave Marvin became a volunteer naturalist and photographer, leading hikes and capturing moments across Larimer County's open spaces. His dedication led to nine years on the Open Lands Advisory Board, culminating in his role as Board Chair.
When and how did you first become involved with the Larimer County Department of Natural Resources, and what role did you play in advancing our open space efforts?
I retired in 2008. My post-retirement plan included serving as a volunteer in local organizations. My educational and professional background was in Natural Sciences and Business, and my varied career encompassed considerable work in both areas.
I learned about the Department of Natural Resources and its Volunteer Naturalist program from a talk given by the Larimer County Natural Resources Department at our local Kiwanis meeting. Serving the public as a volunteer naturalist was a perfect fit with my background, and I soon after began my naturalist certification training.
I became very active in the program and for several years led many campfire and special event talks in Larimer County campgrounds, including Hermit Park Open Space. I also led numerous nature hikes for elementary school kids and adults at many of our open spaces, including Hermit Park, Horsetooth Mountain, Devils Backbone, and Red Mountain.
Photography is one of my hobbies, and I added my name to the list of volunteer photographers for Larimer County. My first big project was to capture interesting photos regarding recreation at Larimer County open spaces. I visited them all and took a lot of photos, some of which I am pleased to see are still in use today.
Fort Collins Coloradoan, June 28, 2009.
Red Mountain Open Space opened in June of 2009. I was asked to be the keynote naturalist for the two-day opening celebration. I led a large group on the Bent Rock Trail hike, including two staff members from the Coloradoan newspaper. A photo of me leading that hike made the front page of the paper. I am generally shy about any sort of recognition, but I appreciated the fact that the grand opening created a real buzz in the County that drew a lot of attention to our Open Lands Program.
Red Mountain Open Space was my favorite destination for my naturalist programs and remains my favorite destination for my personal ‘nature time’.
My work as a naturalist and photographer led to my interest in the Larimer County Open Lands Advisory Board. I felt a need for direct involvement in the protection of lands in Larimer County. I submitted my Board application in the Spring of 2015, interviewed in June, and became an active member in July. Over the next 9 years, I served as Board Member, Board Vice Chair, and finally, Board Chair.
From your perspective, what is one of the most meaningful outcomes or accomplishments that the Help Preserve Open Spaces (HPOS) sales tax has made possible?
The Larimer County HPOS program set the standard for open space programs throughout the State. That is a big deal, which became apparent to me during my attendance at the annual conference for the Colorado Open Space Alliance during my first year on the Board. Not only was Larimer County’s approach to preservation a mainstay of the various programs at the conference, I am convinced that our success in Larimer County has been an inspiration for other open space programs in the State and perhaps nationally.
The natural environment is underpinned by intricate relationships between the living and non-living components of that environment. Once land is developed, these relationships are damaged irreparably. For those of us that lived on the Front Range for many years, the rapid rate at which land has been lost to development is appalling.
The HPOS funding has protected an appreciable amount of land in Larimer County from development—either through fee-simple property acquisition or the establishment of conservation easements. This land is managed in consideration of its natural resources. Some of these properties allow public access for a variety of managed uses like hiking, biking, and education. Others help protect a way of life, like farming or ranching, and in the process create buffers to adjacent development and protect important natural resource values.
There is human comfort in both knowing it is set aside and protected and in spending time in these special places.
The HPOS program has helped inspire citizens to get outdoors for a whole variety of reasons including exercise and relaxation. It is not uncommon to fill the parking lots at Devils Backbone and Horsetooth Mountain Open Space on nice days in the spring, summer, and fall.
The program has served as an educational platform for kids and adults. Larimer County Naturalists offer many training opportunities on our Open Spaces on a variety of topics. The attendance at these trainings is quite high. For teachers in the school district, these trainings help them meet educational standards required by the State for each grade level. It is not uncommon during the school year to see several school buses in the parking lot of Devils Backbone or Horsetooth Mountain open spaces with up to 50 to 100 kids split up among the naturalists working that day’s educational agenda.
Has the HPOS program been successful? The ultimate litmus test is what the citizens of Larimer County think. A variety of surveys conducted by the Department of Natural Resources indicate very high levels of citizen satisfaction with our Open Spaces on a variety of aspects of the program. In addition, look at the approval rating given to the extension of the ¼ percent sales tax requested in the 2014 Ballot initiative for the extension: the ballot was overwhelmingly approved by 80% of voters.
Although HPOS has been very successful with the protection of over 65,000 acres of land to date with high natural resource values, there is still work to do to meet public demand for land preservation. At the same time, with every property added to the program comes the added responsibility and growing expense for managing these properties, including ongoing maintenance.
Hermit Park Open Space, 2010. Photo by Dave Marvin.
Is there a memory or moment from your time with LCDNR that stands out as especially powerful, either personally or for the community?
The acquisition of the Heaven’s Door ranch (Canyon Edge Open Space) in 2022 and the Table Mountain in-holding at Red Mountain Open Space in 2018.
The cooperative effort and teamwork that went into evaluating our fee structure for Open Space Access at Horsetooth Mountain and Devils Backbone open spaces. Working with the Board, management, and staff to develop a financial model, alternative strategies and recommending a final solution was very satisfying.
Working with a very diverse and committed team of Board members and the Commissioner representatives to the Board.
Working alongside the managers and staff of the Department of Natural Resources. They are some of the most intelligent, creative, and dedicated people I have ever known.
What message would you want to share with future generations about why conserving and stewarding lands in Larimer County is important?
The natural environment is a beautiful, spiritual, comforting and healing place. Put aside the stress and interruptions of everyday life and get outside.
We don’t need to develop everything. There is considerable value in the natural state of things. Continue to set aside land that helps preserve our natural environment.
Never stop learning about our natural environment. It is a source of constant wonderment and amazement.
“We are the stewards of our natural environment. Take that responsibility seriously.”
Carter Lake, 2010. Photo by Dave Marvin.