Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-15-20 Public Comment - C. Nagel - Comments on Bozeman City Community PlanFrom:Clint Nagel To:Agenda Subject:Comments on Bozeman City Community Plan Date:Sunday, November 15, 2020 12:57:12 PM Attachments:20201113.Comments to Bozeman City Council.docx Dear Deputy Mayor and City Commission: Please accept the comments concerning Bozeman's Community Plan by the Gallatin Wildlife Association (GWA). They are contained below in the attached. If you have questions on these issues provided by GWA, you can email or call using the contact information below. Thanks so much for the opportunity to comment. Clinton Nagel, President Gallatin Wildlife Association November 14, 2020 Attn: City Commission P.O. Box 1230 Bozeman, MT 59771 Dear Deputy Mayor and City Commissioners: The Bozeman Planning Board has submitted to the City Commission of Bozeman, the Bozeman Community Plan 2020, a plan which will establish a designed growth policy to manage the influx of population over the next 20 years. This plan will soon be adopted by this governmental body. The idea of growth is often talked about and desired, but when it happens, people complain about traffic, crime, loss of small-town character, etc. Yet growth is evitable. The best any city can do is plan and implement wise land-use and environmental policies. Those policies should be based upon geology, geography, natural landscapes with an overall ecological mindset. It is the latter concern that the Gallatin Wildlife Association would like to comment. First a description as to who we are. Gallatin Wildlife Association (GWA) is a local, all volunteer wildlife conservation organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of wildlife, fisheries, habitat and migration corridors in Southwest Montana and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, using science-based decision making. We are a non-profit 501-c (3) organization founded in 1976. GWA recognizes the intense pressures on our wildlife from habitat loss and climate change, and we advocate for science-based management of public lands for diverse public values, including but not limited to hunting and angling. The Gallatin Range which lies south of Bozeman contains the largest unprotected wildlands in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Biologically it is one of the more diverse and important areas in the entire Yellowstone ecosystem. The range is critical habitat for grizzly bear, lynx, wolverine, bighorn sheep, and other rare mammals. In addition, the lower elevations sustain thousands of wintering elk. The end of the Gallatin Range north to the Bridger and Bangtail ranges are part of an important migration corridor. As one might expect, the growth of Bozeman and the attraction of the Gallatin Range and other wildlands in the GYE are intricately connected. Uncontrolled growth in the Gallatin Valley has led to uncontrolled ecological harm in the Gallatin Range and other landscapes GALLATIN WILDLIFE ASSOCIATION P. O. Box 5317 Bozeman, MT 59717 (406) 586-1729 www.gallatinwildlife.org in and around Bozeman. Unfortunately, much of that damage done to our natural heritage has led to wildlife loss, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and numerous impacts upon our forests. Man’s insatiable appetite to intrude upon that landscape has really had a negative impact in the lands known as wildland-urban interface (WUI), a landscape that scientists now realize has an increased fire risk, not to mention, responsible for many of those fire ignitions. We believe as the City of Bozeman increases its boundaries outward toward the mountain ranges of the east and south, the risk and harm from urban sprawl and the WUI of the Bridgers, Bangtails and Gallatin Ranges will only be magnified. GWA would like to see more consideration be given to the concerns of landscape preservation and wildlife conservation. Much of the proposed expansion to the south and east encroaches upon winter range for elk and deer as well as habitat for other species of wildlife. Open space needs to be seriously considered. There is not much reference to the concerns of wildlife when reviewing the proposed plan. Then again, in most cities and urban areas, there is not much need. However, Bozeman is different. In theme 4, there are 4 subheadings of goals mentioned on page 28 and 29. Under Goal EPO-1: Prioritize strategic acquisition of parks to provide a variety of recreational opportunities throughout the City. EPO-1.5: “Work with partner organizations to identify and reduce impacts on at-risk, environmentally sensitive areas that contribute to water quality, wildlife corridors, or wildlife habitat.” Under Goal EPO-2: Work to ensure that development is responsive to natural features. EPO-2.3: “Identify, prioritize, and preserve key wildlife habitat and corridors.” These are critical goals to have in order to protect wildlife and their habitat along the Gallatin Front and those areas of the Bangtails and Bridger Range. But the Community Plan needs to be more specific and detailed when addressing this issue. Before the plan is implemented, we would hope that those areas of wildlife habitat and potential wildlife corridors would be addressed. Because as it is, the proposed plan comes very close to impeding upon those landscapes. So far in our analysis, we believe that the Community Plan for Future Land Use has some land use designations that are problematic for wildlife. Area of Concern 1 – 3rd to Sourdough and north from Nash Road After speaking with people who live in the area above, we would like to give more detail about areas which could be left as large agricultural fields, perhaps in conservation easements. One of our questions is: where or how does the City of Bozeman see wildlife in this scenario? Some of our membership frequents the area on daily bike rides. On these rides, members are always watching for wildlife. Most wildlife was sighted from Driftwood Drive east to Sourdough and south to Nash Road. Viewings of a large herd of 85 elk along Bozeman Creek have been noted. Also, a large herd in the conservation easement site east of Sourdough Road. These are consistent sightings and is considered winter range for elk. There has also been viewed Sandhill Cranes in the area of Spring Creek. Many deer are in the fields and yards along Third Street and Sourdough Road. The habitat ranking map below is from FWP Montana Crucial Habitat Assessment. You can see how close Area of Concern 1 is to the urban neighborhood designation in your proposed map. Please leave the area described in large agricultural blocks or conservation easements. Area of Concern 2 – Hills east of Sourdough and Bozeman and Spring Creeks The urban area designations east of Sourdough are problematic for wildlife. This is winter range for elk. The riparian area of Sourdough Creek should not be developed. The map below shows how important that area is-crucial habitat rank 2. Area of Concern 3 – Area connecting State open lands and a Wildlife Passage under I90 Please look at Nash and Sourdough to the east. Bozeman is drawing their proposed city boundary at Mount Ellis Road (between the state parcels 34 and 35). The road stops at the NE corner of section 34. For many reasons it is important for wildlife to be able to move. Whether it might be because of a logging project (as is planned on State lands) or a new neighborhood development, it is critical to give wildlife the ability to relocate, they must be able to move. In this map there are large chunks of state lands and a couple of conservation easements. If, in your planning you leave the large parcels in 22, 27 and 28 not zoned urban neighborhood it would help wildlife get to section 15 which is state land and has a road that goes under the freeway and connects to state land on the other side. This is what can be done to get wildlife to the Bridger and Bangtail ranges. These are just three examples of concerns we have over the future plans of city growth. We want to make sure it is known; our concerns are not just centered upon city orientation and planning. We have significant and equal concerns over county, state and federal lands in how they are managed (or not) for wildlife as well. These would be lands that either border or are in the vicinity of these known wildlife corridors. We all know how quickly the Gallatin Valley is filling with urban sprawl. Much of this is a result of County Planners or lack thereof within their jurisdiction. And perhaps some is a result of both city and county infighting and policy decision making. The negative impact, however, has left the valley with more and more surging development within the WUI and has removed agricultural lands out of production. GWA has taken many flights around the Gallatin Valley, and there is not much available or remaining habitat for wildlife. Biodiversity is lost and wildlife habitat is fragmented. Lands that are part of and adjacent to the Gallatin Key Linkage Area (lands designated on and by the Custer Gallatin National Forest) are all that is left for wildlife. These lands must contain sufficient food supply, shelter, and be unimpaired in order to allow free wildlife movement from the GYE to the NCDE. Protection of Areas of Concern 1,2 and 3 is part of that effort. If we don’t get the “growth” component of the Greater Yellowstone addressed, it won’t matter how fond we are of natural processes playing out at the landscape level. Processes like terrestrial migrations of ungulates, connectivity routes for species such as grizzly bears, wolverines and elk, all need escape cover free from intensive human intrusion. If not, wildlife will suffer. The time to think about the impacts of growth is now. Please plan now to protect our valuable resource-wildlife. The Greater Yellowstone of today only exists because people in the past not only exhibited self-restraint, but they set aside lands and passed laws that paid their ethic of conservation forward. They did so believing we, too, would see the light and appreciate their efforts. The only way that the remarkable wild assets of the ecosystem are going to persist— especially in the face of climate change and inundation by more people—is if we protect as much of the remaining undeveloped lands as possible. We ask that the City work with us in this effort. Thank you for taking our comments. Sincerely, Clinton Nagel and Nancy Schultz President and Secretary, Gallatin Wildlife Association From:Clint Nagel To:Agenda Subject:Re: Comments on Bozeman City Community Plan Date:Sunday, November 15, 2020 1:24:23 PM Sorry, I forgot to include contact information. It is as follows. Clinton Nagel, President Gallatin Wildlife Association phone: 406-600-1792 clint_nagel@yahoo.com Or you can use contact information on our website as well. The above is my direct info. Please do not share with public. Thank you. clint.... On Sunday, November 15, 2020, 12:57:00 PM MST, Clint Nagel <clint_nagel@yahoo.com> wrote: Dear Deputy Mayor and City Commission: Please accept the comments concerning Bozeman's Community Plan by the Gallatin Wildlife Association (GWA). They are contained below in the attached. If you have questions on these issues provided by GWA, you can email or call using the contact information below. Thanks so much for the opportunity to comment. Clinton Nagel, President Gallatin Wildlife Association