Relocation efforts underway for Gunbarrel prairie dogs as Celestial Seasonings development moves forward

In July 2021, the Boulder City Council greenlighted the development of a 9.8-acre parcel of land near Celestial Seasonings in Gunbarrel, a long-time home to a large prairie dog colony. Over a year later, the first stage of the project is underway.

The controversial development project, which will add 230 apartments, a cafe, library, art space, community areas, mobility hub, and green space to the land along Spine Road, has been a source of tension between Gunbarrel residents and the City of Boulder since it was first proposed in 2020.

Originally, the plot of land owned by Celestial Seasonings (now Hain Celestial) had been dedicated as an open space preserve. From 1999 to 2020, the 9.8-acre parcel, located just to the west of Spine Road and east of the Celestial Seasonings building, had remained undeveloped open space-until the development proposal of 2020.

In addition to concerns about the new development's impact on traffic, density, and the overall quality of life in Gunbarrel, during the application and review process residents raised concerns about the fate of the land's existing residents-a colony of black-tailed prairie dogs.

Throughout the ensuing multi-year review process, the Gunbarrel Community Alliance, a non-profit organization formed in 2020 in response to the proposed development project, pledged to ensure the proper removal and relocation of prairie dogs before the development of the property.

But according to the City of Boulder OSMP, which routinely handles prairie dog relocations on city-owned property, prairie dog relocations are logistically complicated and expensive, and finding suitable relocation sites can be particularly challenging.

In addition to the cost of trapping and moving the animals, many plant communities and some animal species such as grasshopper sparrows do not thrive in close proximity to active prairie dog colonies, often making it difficult to find suitable grasslands to rehome the colonies.

Though faced with initial challenges about where to relocate the colony, in the end, developers Sares Regis Group and Allison Management, Inc., were able to find a suitable area for relocation.

Smith Environmental and Engineering, a private company hired by the developers, oversaw relocating the prairie dogs from the property. According to the Gunbarrel Community Alliance's Facebook page, from July 23 to August 15, Smith Environmental and Engineering captured the prairie dogs using food to lure them into color-coded cages in order to keep family groups together. The captured prairie dogs then were moved to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

Once a nuclear weapons manufacturing complex, Rocky Flats Plant produced nuclear weapons parts from 1952 to 1993. The refuge opened to the public in 2018 for recreation after a $7 billion cleanup effort. Now, the 5,237 acres are designated to preserve and protect more than 630 species of plants, including the globally rare xeric tallgrass prairie.

The prairie dogs relocated from Gunbarrel will join 239 migratory and resident wildlife species, including prairie falcons, deer, elk, coyotes, songbirds, and the federally threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse. The refuge also provides a protected corridor for migrating wildlife.

According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, one of the main threats to Colorado's black-tailed prairie dog population is habitat loss and fragmentation. The relocation effort in Gunbarrel is an attempt to preserve the colony on suitable habitat at Rocky Flats.