Berthoud Weekly Surveyor | Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot

News Bites – May 5, 2022

By: Amber McIver-Traywick | The Surveyor | May 05, 2022 | Local News

Monday Governor Jared Polis signed legislation officially recognizing Juneteenth as Colorado’s 11th state holiday. The Governor was joined by legislators and community members.

Juneteenth was recognized as a national holiday last year by Congress and President Joe Biden. Legislation to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday in Colorado was first introduced this February and passed the legislature with bipartisan support.

For more than 200 years, Black Coloradans and Americans have celebrated Juneteenth, not only as an end to slavery, but also as a day that represents freedom, hope and joy. It’s about time we officially recognize Juneteenth in Colorado law,” said Governor Polis. “Thank you to our sponsors that have championed this bill and thank you to the team at Colorado WINS for ensuring that this bill made its way to my desk. Our state’s diversity is our greatest power, and with today’s signing we take another step toward building a Colorado for all.”

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This August, the Colorado State Patrol is hosting its 2022 Youth Academy. This will include two online learning modules and then participants will come to the Training Academy in Golden, CO, for in-person learning from August 25-28, 2022.

“Whether you are from rural Colorado or in a metropolitan area, we welcome students age 16 or older to get to know us by training with us,” stated Col. Matthew C. Packard, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol. “These students develop an insider perspective that most residents of our State will never know. And, by investing in the future leaders of this State, we end up learning just as much from them as they learn from us.”

Cadets in the Youth Academy will focus on leadership development through team exercises and individual achievements via training in defensive driving, firearm safety and familiarization, ethics in law enforcement, self-defense, crime scene investigation, and more.  The Youth Academy is only run once a year and it is free.

Now through May 30, 2022, the Youth Academy is accepting applications.  To find out more information on the requirements and what you will learn, visit csp.colorado.gov/community-outreach/youth-academy.

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Assessment rates on properties for the 2022 tax year have been adjusted according to Larimer County Assessor Bob Overbeck.

First, some good news. Single-family residential assessment rates have been reduced from 7.15% to 6.95%.

Other property assessment rates for the 2022 tax year:

  • Multi-family residential properties, 6.8%.
  • Agriculture sub-class properties: possessory interest, sprinkler irrigation, flood irrigation, dry farmland, meadow hay land, grazing land, orchard land, farm and ranch wasteland; and forest land, 26.40%.
  • Renewable energy personal property; commercial property and state-assessed property, 26.40%.
  • In most cases, all other agricultural, commercial state-assessed classes and vacant land are assessed at 29%.

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Rocky Mountain National Park will be operating the Hiker Shuttle from May 27 through October 10, from the Estes Park Visitor Center to the Park & Ride Transit Hub located on Bear Lake Road.  There are no other stops in the park. At the Park & Ride, riders will transfer to the Bear Lake or Moraine Park shuttles to get to their trailhead destinations.

As part of the park’s overall pilot timed entry system, two things will be needed to ride the Hiker Shuttle: reservation tickets for all passengers plus a valid park entrance pass. One person may reserve up to 4 tickets per $2 reservation. At 5 p.m. the night before, a limited number of tickets will be available for seven specific time slots at  RMNP Hiker Shuttle Reservations For example, if you want to reserve a spot on the Hiker Shuttle for May 27, tickets will be available on May 26 at 5 pm.  Space is limited, please only reserve the number of seats needed. Park entrance passes are also required. Riders can use an existing annual or lifetime pass, such as a senior pass, or purchase a day pass on recreation.gov. Private vehicle access is not permitted with a Hiker Shuttle ticket.

The Hiker Shuttle will depart from the Estes Park Visitor Center to the Bear Lake Road Park & Ride at 9 am, 9:45 am, 10:30 am, 11:15 am, noon, 12:45 pm, 1:30 pm, and 2:15 pm, May 27 through October 10.  Passengers are required to depart from the Estes Park Visitor Center using the specific time slot reserved.

The Hiker Shuttle will return from the Park & Ride to the Estes Park Visitor Center roughly every 45 minutes beginning at 9:45 am through 5:15 pm.  Passengers can return using any Hiker Shuttle throughout the day. The last shuttle will depart from the Bear Lake Road Park & Ride at 5:15 pm.  There are no other buses back to the Estes Park Visitor Center after this time.  For further details on the Hiker Shuttle and the Bear Lake and Moraine Park routes please visit RMNP Shuttle Buses

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For the fourth consecutive year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife along with partner Colorado fishing companies are encouraging anglers to take a friend fishing. As a reward for sharing your expertise and love of fishing, they’ve created a contest for mentors who take the time to pass on their knowledge. And, CPW is now offering prizes for the mentor as well as the mentee.

“Fishing is something a person can enjoy their entire life. When you teach someone how to fish, you can literally change their life forever,” said CPW Angler Outreach Coordinator Andre Egli. “We’ve received some truly inspiring stories about fishing in Colorado over the past few years. I’m excited to see what kind of photos and stories our anglers will send in this year.”

Mentors, take a beginner angler out or mentees encourage an experienced angler to teach you how to fish and enter to win some great prizes by submitting a photograph and brief story of your time on the water. Submissions will be judged by their ability to inspire.

Winners will be selected at three different times throughout the year (July, October and February). Both the mentor as well as the mentee will receive a prize. All prizes retail between $300 – $900. Prizes include a six-hour guided boat fishing trip, YETI cooler package, full beginner fly-fishing, spin-casting and ice fishing sets.

For more information and complete rules visit cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/Take-a-Friend-Fishing.aspx.

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Beginning, May 27, Rocky Mountain National Park will increase the one-day vehicle pass from $25 to $30. The fee increase is necessary for Rocky Mountain National Park to improve and maintain high-quality visitor services. While basic park operations are funded by direct appropriations from Congress, the recreation use fees collected by the park are used to support new projects and the ongoing maintenance of park facilities that directly enhance the visitor experience.

Rocky Mountain National Park is one of a few national parks that has a one-day vehicle entrance pass. This day pass was implemented in October 2015. All other park entrance fees including the RMNP seven-day pass ($35 per week), the RMNP annual pass ($70 per year) and any of the interagency America the Beautiful passes will remain the same.

Winter campground fees will increase from $20 to $30 per night beginning on October 12, 2022.  Summer campground fees will increase from $30 to $35 per night beginning the summer of 2023.  In addition, group site campground fees will raise $10 for each tier in group size to $50/$60/$70. Increased campground fees will address cost increases related to trash removal, vault toilet and custodial servicing, general site maintenance and snowplow operations in the winter. The Longs Peak Campground, open summers for tents only, will remain $30 per night because there are no flushable toilets and campers need to bring their own drinkable water.

In the fall of 2021, Rocky Mountain National Park staff solicited public input on the proposed fee increases. During the public comment period, the park received 264 formal comments that were related to the park’s proposed fee changes.  Most commenters expressed support for the proposed changes to the one-day vehicle entrance pass and front-country campground overnight fees, often highlighting the importance of funding for park maintenance, operation, and resource protection. Commenters who opposed fee increases often cited socioeconomic concerns and affordability for all visitors.

Park staff are committed to keeping Rocky Mountain National Park affordable and providing all visitors with the best possible experience. This fee increase is still an incredible value when considering other comparable family and recreational experiences. These campground fee increases are based on comparable fees for similar services in nearby campgrounds. In addition, 80 percent of those funds stay right here in Rocky to benefit visitors.

The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) is the legislation under which the park currently collects entrance and amenity fees.  This law allows parks to retain 80 percent of the fees collected for use on projects that directly benefit visitors.  The remaining 20 percent is distributed throughout the National Park System.

Some of the projects funded through the collection of entrance station and campground fees at Rocky Mountain National Park include hazard tree mitigation, hiking trail repairs and improvements, wilderness campsite improvements and bear management

In 2020, 3.3 million park visitors spent an estimated $224 million in local gateway regions while visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, despite the global Covid pandemic, historic wildfires, and the park’s first piloted timed entry permit reservation system. These expenditures supported a total of 3,190 jobs, $121 million in labor income, $208 million in value-added, and $342 million in economic output in local gateway economies surrounding Rocky Mountain National Park. 2021 visitor spending data, tied to visitation of 4.4 million park visitors, will be available later this year.

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Through Can’d Aid’s participation in the Barrett-Jackson charity car auction, a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Custom 6×6–nicknamed “The Savage Bull”–sold for $150,000 and was then donated back to sell again according to a press release sent out by the organization. In total, the two bidders raised $250,000 with proceeds benefiting Can’d Aid’s Berthoud Adaptive Park Project.

Playground designer, Star Playgrounds, completed renderings of the design.

Donation for the park can be made by visiting,  candaid.salsalabs.org/berthoudadaptive…/index.html

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