Lefthand Canyon

In the fall of 2024, the US Forest Service Arapaho & Roosevelt Boulder Ranger District hosted a series of stakeholder meetings on the Lefthand Canyon area near Boulder. Specifically, the meetings addressed how best to reopen the area to recreation post-2013 flooding, as well as a discussion of off-highway vehicle use.

A CPW grant supported this series of meetings, and Keystone Policy Center was hired to facilitate. NoCo Places participated in the meetings, bringing a regional perspective on recreation and conservation to the process. The stakeholder group made significant progress in supporting the Forest Service’s planning process.

However, the grant funding supporting the Keystone contract and the stakeholder effort has come to an end. To maintain the momentum of the stakeholder group and support their solution-finding efforts, NoCo Places is providing facilitation support. Our involvement is designed to maintain engagement, continuity, and productive dialogue, enabling the group to continue its work in partnership with the Forest Service and regional partners to address off-highway vehicle use and broader recreation and conservation concerns.

For additional context and background, Keystone Policy Center developed a report on the first series of Lefthand Canyon off-highway vehicle area stakeholder dialogues.