Posts tagged media
Noxious weeds on the city’s “hit” list
May 2nd
As a result of a state mandate to eliminate “List A” noxious weed species from all public and private property in Colorado communities, the City of Boulder is proposing an update to its existing weed ordinance to require property owners to remove the weeds from all properties.
“List A” weed species, as provided in the Colorado Noxious Weed Act, are plants that have yet to be well established in Colorado but are either present in small populations or are invasive in nearby states. There are two species of “List A” weeds that are of most concern within Boulder’s city limits: myrtle spurge and Japanese knotweed. The city was awarded a grant through the Colorado Department of Agriculture Noxious Weed Management Fund to assist in an educational plan.
“Early detection and eradication of these particular species can prevent them from becoming a major problem in Colorado,” said city Integrated Pest Management Coordinator Rella Abernathy. “Most of these plants are ‘escaped’ ornamental plants and many residents may not realize that they present a threat to the natural lands surrounding Boulder and are illegal to grow here.”
These noxious, invasive plants can negatively impact biodiversity, threaten endangered species, degrade native habitat, displace wildlife, increase soil erosion, damage streams and other wetlands and increase the risk and frequency of wildfires if allowed to spread. Boulder is in compliance with the Colorado Noxious Weed Act on city-owned properties but has not been enforcing the statue on private property.
The city will focus on education and outreach to notify the public of the requirements and to provide information for identification, environmentally-sound weed removal and suggested replacement plant options.
“A soft enforcement approach is being implemented with voluntary compliance being the goal and enforcement action being a last resort,” said Code Enforcement Supervisor Jennifer Riley. “However, ticketing is possible if property owners do not comply with repeated requests from officers to address illegal weeds.”
Education will begin with a “Purge Your Spurge” event on May 18 where residents are encouraged to pull their myrtle spurge and exchange it for free native plants. This event will occur as part of Boulder Community Day at the East Boulder Community Center, 5660 Sioux Drive, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Other education efforts will include a webpage; fact sheets; media engagement; outreach to nurseries, landscapers and lawn care companies; and code enforcement officers who assist with education in the field.
“Identifying and removing noxious weeds from private property can take some effort, but it’s important to prevent these weeds from spreading to our neighbors’ yards and ultimately to natural areas,” said Abernathy. “Fortunately, only two of the weeds from the list are widespread within the Boulder city limits, myrtle spurge being the most common. We want to make sure people can easily identify the weeds, know how to remove them safely and know what native plants can be used to replace them.”
Myrtle spurge has been commonly used as a decorative plant. People should be aware that it contains a white sap that can cause skin irritation including blistering if touched. Those removing it should wear long sleeves, long pants, gloves and eye protection. Removing at least four inches of the root is recommended to prevent its return. It should be placed in a plastic bag and tightly fastened. DON’T compost noxious weeds as that will cause the weed to spread.
The city’s weed ordinance is expected to be modified through a City Manager rule change, which will be published in the Daily Camera on May 3, as well as on the city’s website. Public feedback will be accepted until May 20. The rule is anticipated to go into effect on June 1, 2013.
For more information or to provide feedback on the proposed City Manager’s rule, contact Rella Abernathy at 303-441-1901.
— CITY OF BOULDER NEWS RELEASE –
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CU: New colleges, including a J-School are proposed. Others are environment and sustainability
May 1st
University of Colorado Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore today announced the campus will be taking the first steps needed to formally propose the creation of the first new colleges on the campus in 50 years: a college focused on media, communication and information, and a college designed around CU-Boulder’s strengths in the environment and sustainability. Both would require the approval of the Board of Regents.
“These proposed new colleges will create exciting synergies among related disciplines,” said Moore. “They will build on CU-Boulder’s programmatic strengths and excellence, attract new high-quality students and faculty, and facilitate scholarship and teaching that will prepare students for careers in a wide range of exciting fields.”
Moore said the college or school devoted to media, communication and information would house programs in journalism, advertising and design, communication, film production and film studies, media studies and a new department in information studies.
“If approved by the Board of Regents, this college will create exciting opportunities for our students and will bring together a dynamic and creative faculty in these disciplines,” said Moore. “From this college, we will create working journalists, editors and media professionals, communication scholars, media experts, advertisers and media designers, filmmakers and film theorists, and experts in the emerging field of information architecture and design. The possibilities are truly exciting.”
A college of the environment and sustainability, Moore said, if approved, will “bring together some of the finest researchers and teachers on the campus” in disciplines and programs that include environmental science, environmental policy and environmental design while “drawing upon assets from some of the campus’s most dynamic institutes,” including the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI).
“This will bring together in one college a concentration of faculty who represent some of CU-Boulder’s mostly highly ranked, and highly successful, research in environmental sciences,” said Moore. “The graduates of the college we envision will be highly sought after in fields ranging from design of the built environment to alternative energy development to the formation of environmental and energy policy.”
In both cases, said Moore, the move to create the colleges is supported by three years of work, by recommendations from internal and external committees who reviewed existing programs and structures on the campus, and above all, “by the clear economic, workplace and research demands of the world around us.”
“This isn’t adding to an ivory tower – it’s breaking apart the ivory tower and investing in a bright and very real future for our students and our faculty,” said Moore. “This will challenge us to rethink how we teach, how we organize ourselves as a research and scholarly community, how we generate and use resources, and how we deliver graduates into the job market or into realms of further scholarship.”
Moore said the next step in this process is to form implementation committees to create blueprints for forging the colleges, examining such issues as funding and fundraising, administration, curriculum development and how to integrate the work of the institutes with the role and mission of the new colleges. The goal is to submit proposals to form the colleges to the CU Board of Regents within the next 12 months, and to form the new colleges and begin enrolling students by 2015.
Moore also thanked a host of individuals who drove the internal and external processes to help envision the colleges, including “Merrill Lessley, who chaired the ICMT Exploratory Committee, Andrew Calabrese who chaired the Information Communication Journalism Media and Technology Steering Committee, Helmut Muller-Sievers and Bob Craig who organized conversations in the social sciences and the humanities and arts around these issues last summer, Michele Jackson who conducted an online discussion group, and Sharon Collinge who chaired the Environmental Studies Visioning Committee.”
CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano lauded the work of the committees.
“Forming new academic entities is no small task,” said DiStefano. “From the volunteer committee members who gave their time, to our faculty who gave their time and input into those committees, we have seen the best of what CU-Boulder is about: passion, vision, energy and ingenuity. We are confident our new colleges and schools will embody these same values.”
-CU press release-
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CU’s Emma Coburn is the fastest in the world (this year), named Pac-12 Track Athlete Of The Week
Apr 30th
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. –University of Colorado senior Emma Coburn has been named the Pac-12 Conference Female Track Athlete of the Week after clocking the best 3,000-meter steeplechase time in the world this season.
Coburn won the steeplechase at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational on Saturday night with a time of 9:28.26, just two days after running a 4:11.36 1,500 at Drake Relays…over 1,800 miles away. Coburn defeated Brooks’ Jamie Cheever by a narrow margin (9:29.13), but the two blew away the field with the third-place finisher, Weber State’s Amber Henry, finishing in 9:51.55. Prior to Coburn’s run, the top NCAA steeplechase time was 9:50.39, set by Cornell’s Rachel Sorna. Coburn’s 9:28.26 is also the third fastest time in NCAA history and made her the second best performer in the event.
The Crested Butte, Colo. native also did quite well in her 1,500, placing eighth overall. She was the only collegiate runner in a field that included the regaining IAAF 1,500-Meter World Champion and CU volunteer assistant coach Jenny Simpson (who won in 4:03), and other Olympians. Coburn’s time is fifth in the NCAA, but on Friday night it was the fastest in the NCAA.
Both times from the weekend are the best by a Pac-12 runner this season.
The Buffs are gearing up for the Pac-12 Conference Championships in Los Angeles. The combined events portion of the meet will be contested this weekend, May 4-5, and the rest of the meet will be the following weekend, May 11-12. USC is this year’s host.
CU press release
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– Colorado –
