Jefferson County parks and open‑space staff presented a draft Conservation Greenprint during the Sept. 30 staff briefing that outlines how the county’s half‑cent open‑space sales tax will be invested over the next five years and asked commissioners to schedule the plan for consideration at a future hearing.

The plan is the product of a multi‑phase process staff described as discovery, engagement, formulation, review and adoption. Staff said the outreach included a statistically valid 2024 resident survey (10,000 households sampled; about 1,700 completed surveys), an open‑link survey (about 1,400 responses), two focus groups (one Spanish‑language), five in‑person open houses (122 attendees) and a draft feedback period that returned about 50 responses. Christina Duff, a senior planner, summarized the project work and said, “we’re super excited to present the final document with you today.”

Staff provided baseline figures in the draft: roughly 58,000 acres preserved over the last 53 years, about 50,000 acres currently managed by Jefferson County Open Space, 27 open‑space parks and roughly 269 miles of trail. Staff also highlighted recent volunteer efforts tied to National Public Lands Day, saying 447 volunteers worked at 16 sites, removing about 6,350 pounds of trash, collecting roughly 2,145 pounds of recyclables and planting about 1,450 native plants.

The draft frames five priority initiatives for the next five years: managing park access (maintaining and improving existing trails, trailheads and park amenities), engage/learn/lead (visitor education, volunteer expansion and partnerships), steward ecosystem health (forest, grassland and wetland management and restoration), preserve land (opportunistic acquisitions and land‑conservation partnerships) and enhanced nature‑based experiences (trail planning, access equity and multimodal connections).

Staff emphasized that the Conservation Greenprint is intended both as a public roadmap and an internal reference. The document will sit alongside ongoing action plans and preservation progress reports; staff said they are developing more interactive, web‑based reporting tools so residents can see planned work and completed projects.

Commissioners signaled support for a fuller public hearing to spotlight the plan. A staff request to place the draft on a future hearing agenda for adoption was accepted; staff will return with a hearing‑level presentation.

The presentation included acknowledgments to the Open Space Advisory Committee, municipal partners (including the City of Lakewood) and county volunteers.