This petition is brought to the City of Glenwood Springs by Dr. Anne Moll, resident of Glenwood Springs, and all of those signed below, regarding the city owned property referred to as Lone Pine dog Park, located between the Roaring Fork River and Rio Grand Trail, just below the Coach Miller Drive.

We respectfully state that this land should remain an undeveloped, open use wild land area. This parcel of land is home to bears, deer, bald eagles, osprey, woodpeckers, river swallows, bees and other inhabitants who enjoy the wild grass, pine trees, scrub oak, wildflowers, and the fish living along the shallow river access. These inhabitants are a critical part of the ecosystem of this valley. We believe in protecting these beings of the More than Human World.

In addition, unlike the many other parks in the city, this land is used 365 days a year by many hikers, bicyclists, walkers, families playing, kite fliers, paragliders, fishermen and women, high schoolers getting into normal high school trouble, and many grateful humans with dogs (and a few unique cats!). On a typical day, you will find a large number of people of all ages enjoying the land throughout the day, regardless of cold, snow, ice or heat. Such a space offers mental health benefits of peace and harmony with this land within a city boundary. The majority of us walk to this land instead of drive, relieving the crowded streets of Glenwood with more cars.

For more that 12 years a small group of us have served as stewards to this land (e.g., provided clean up duties every week or so, pulling noxious or invasive weeds), showing our respect for this space and trying to make it as worry and cost free for the city as possible. Currently this land costs basically nothing to maintain requiring no watering, no grass cutting, no electricity, unlike our other wonderful parks throughout this city that require significant maintenance. We are grateful to Parks and Recreation for putting in 2 picnic tables, a garbage can and dog bags and the occasional aeration. We recognize they respect this land for what it is - pure beauty and simplicity.

Recent proposals to develop this land, or to transfer the deed to other entities for development, have us in a state of severe concern for the land, the animals, and the impact on the rest of the city. Developing or selling this land for development will negatively impact our community in, at a minimum, these ways: (a) create environmental impact to the More than Human World including the native animals and plants, losing their habitat, potential toxins bleeding into the river, (b) require additional use of water, a scarce natural resource and possibly see toxins that will affect the wild life and river, (c) move many more humans and animals on the Rio Grande trail which is already crowded with walkers and bikers, thus significantly increasing the likelihood of negative interactions between its users, (d) require us to drive to other locations for exercise, thus adding pollution and crowding our already crowded streets., and (e) remove a sacred space for mental well being by eliminating the quiet, calm beauty where mediation and connection to the More than Human World occurs every day. Overall the impact is negative to our environment in all ways. 

We look forward to working with the City to support other ways for the entities seeking this land to meet their goals. 

We will bring this petition along with our presentation and proposal to the City of Glenwood for discussion.