Entrepreneur Spencer Schar currently resides in Colorado, a state with very different development plans and regulations from his home state of Florida. This article will look at land use in Colorado’s Front Range and how a growing population and ever-increasing need for infrastructure is putting unprecedented pressure on local services and resources.
In recent decades, the population of Colorado has grown significantly, particularly in areas surrounding Coloradan cities, correlating with a nationally observed phenomenon. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Colorado’s population grew by around 15% overall between 2010 and 2018. As the population increases so does the need for local infrastructure, driving up demand for homes and basic public services.
From 2013 to 2023, ArcGis conducted a study observing land cover along the Front Range, comparing the area with one of an equivalent size located in the same region that is protected by conservation easements. Using LANDSAT imagery, the organization assessed the rate of change for land cover along the Front Range throughout a period of rapid population growth.
Using a reclassification analysis, ArcGis determined areas along the Front Range that had been granted long-term conservation status. Protected in perpetuity, these lands are delineated under conservation easements, shielding them from the risk of being repurposed for development by local government. Comparing the results, ArcGis observed a risk to insufficiently protected areas across the Front Range should the prevailing rate of population growth and development continue unabated.
Local population growth is at its highest levels around Coloradan cities, following a trend reported in many other parts of the country. Reflecting on its findings, ArcGis highlighted a need for urgent, aggressive measures to safeguard more land through conservation easements in order to protect Colorado’s lands and waters for future generations.
In 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008, a directive establishing the goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. Follow-on recommendations from ArcGis’s study include concentrating on the loss of natural habitat, including implementation of additional procedures when conducting unsupervised analysis for land cover.
The Front Range is a corridor of mountains that forms part of the Rockies. Stretching 200 miles from Colorado’s border with Wyoming in the north to the Arkansas River in the south, the Front Range’s western border incorporates a series of high peaks, including the Laramie and Medicine Bow Mountains in the north and Pikes Peak to the south. Other notable peaks forming part of the Front Range include the Mummy Range, Indian Peaks, Tarryall Mountains, Kenosha Mountains, and Rampart Ridge.
Colorado has a long history of human habitation throughout its mountains and plains, providing easy access to ample resources as well as safe shelter from the extreme weather of both environments. Early inhabitants were indigenous hunter-gatherers who settled along the Front Range more than 12,000 years ago. On the eastern slope of Pikes Peak, archaeologists discovered etchings in rocks at the Garden of the Gods believed to be at least 1,000 years old.
Home to almost 5 million people, the Front Range saw a 15% increase in its local population between 2010 and 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau; 85% of Colorado’s residents live within the range, which is currently served by just one Amtrak stop in downtown Denver.
Over the last 20 years, cities across the 200-mile-long Front Range Urban Corridor have seen tremendous economic growth, with employment rising by 300,000 jobs in Denver and a further 40,000 jobs in Fort Colins, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics reports. As the Front Range corridor continues to expand and residents and visitors seek faster and more efficient transport options, conservationists are calling for bold measures to protect irreplaceable natural habitats like mesas and shrubland.
The ArcGis study highlights the need for an alternative approach to land development across the Front Range. Rather than focusing solely on the addition of developed land, conservationists warn of an urgent need to prioritize protecting fragile local ecosystems for generations of Coloradans to come.
