Larimer County launches open spaces passport program

Larimer County Department of Natural Resources invites people to explore Larimer County’s amazing, scenic open spaces using a new passport as their guide.

The department launched The Larimer County Passport to Your Open Spaces on Tuesday, May 31. People can pick up a passport brochure at trailhead kiosks on Larimer County’s open spaces to start their adventure.

For the passport program, the department placed posts on eight Larimer County open spaces. Two posts were placed on each open space in easy (short hike) and hard (long hike) locations. Each post has a plaque affixed to it with a unique image. People can place their passport over the plaque and make a rubbing of the image to “stamp” their passport.

“From prairies to mountains and forests to wetlands, Larimer County’s open spaces deliver the best of Colorado’s great outdoors,” said Kerri Rollins, Larimer County’s Open Lands Program manager. “We’re excited to launch this new passport program so people can learn about each open space. Hopefully, they discover new open spaces that they’ve never visited and have fun collecting rubbings in their passport along the way.”

The passport brochure contains directions on where to find each of the 16 posts, as well as educational information about the history, wildlife, plants, trails and other aspects of each open space. The plaque affixed to each post has an image that relates to the open space where it’s located.

“The plaques themselves are really cool,” Rollins said. “Hopefully, people get a ‘collect them all’ mentality once they see the plaques and want to get rubbings of them all.”

People can collect eight rubbings for a prize, 12 rubbings for a passport T-shirt, or all 16 rubbings for a prize, T-shirt and entry into a grand prize drawing. Grand prizes include annual entrance permits to Larimer County parks and open spaces and two nights in a camper cabin at Hermit Park Open Space.

The passport program is open to people of all ages. Individuals, families and groups are encouraged to participate. People must remember to bring a crayon or pencil with them to the open spaces to make their rubbings.

Passport brochures are available at the following locations:

• Larimer County Department of Natural Resources Administrative Offices, 1800 S. County Rd. 31, Loveland
• Hermit Park Office, Hermit Park Open Space, 17 Hermit Park Rd., Estes Park
Citizen Information Center, Larimer County Courthouse Offices, 200 W. Oak St., Fort Collins
• Kiosks at the trailheads for Horsetooth Mountain, Devil’s Backbone, Red Mountain, Eagle’s Nest, Hermit Park, Ramsay-Shockey and River Bluffs open spaces and Fossil Creek Reservoir Natural Area

The passport is being launched as part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Help Preserve Open Spaces sales tax in Larimer County. Funds from this tax have been used to acquire and maintain many of the open spaces in the passport. To learn about the anniversary, visit www.larimer.org/openspaces20th.

To learn more about the passport program, visit www.larimer.org/passport.