SEASONS

Caring for animals through the seasons

By Kaite Fletcher Redstone Review

LONGMONT – The winter solstice, on December 21, 2022, signals the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Soon, the darkness will be overcome by sunlight once more. There are a variety of traditions across the world that celebrate the rebirth of the sun; however, most use this celestial event to welcome a fresh start and voice hopes for the New Year.

With each shift in season, the type and number of wild patients at Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center follow suit based on their natural cycles. Over the course of the year, the number of onsite animals at a specific time depends on many factors, such as specific species, required level of care, and rehabilitation progress. In 2021, over 4,000 animals were treated at Greenwood. This year, that number is more than 4,500 patients.

Winter Fluffy insulation and cozy dens help Colorado wildlife survive through the colder months. Some birds will migrate south to more ideal temperatures, whereas small mammals like raccoons and squirrels hunker down in their dens and nests until the temperatures rise once more.

During this time, Greenwood does not have as many critters onsite. This gives the caretakers time to prepare for the spring season and review how to better help the wildlife community in Colorado next time around the sun.

Spring Wildlife conflicts pop up along with the wildflowers again as the temperature warms. The number of onsite animals rises at Greenwood. April and May bring groups of baby squirrels into the wild world. Nesting season begins for birds. Fox and racoon kits start to make an appearance.

To prepare for their babies, mother mammals and birds try to find safe spaces to raise their young. Nests of baby bunnies in compost piles are common, as are bird nests in precarious hanging baskets. Spaces under houses or sheds may seem like ideal dens for foxes and raccoons, as do attics and even window wells. This is the time to block these openings before critters make it their home.

Summer The summer season proves to be the busiest time here at the center with more babies and more human-wildlife conflicts as we participate in our favorite warm weather activities.

Most birds nest into mid-summer, even laying multiple clutches of eggs. Our feathered patients are abundant at the peak of the summer season with about 500 birds, including songbirds, waterfowl and shorebirds, onsite during this period in 2021. This can be due to injury or illness and, more commonly, the concerned citizen. Many birds that make their way into our care are unnecessarily removed from the wild in fear of being orphaned. This year, more than 700 birds were released back into the skies.

Racoons hold a steady population of about 80 onsite throughout the summer months. Based on the specific space and care required for these critters, Greenwood

does have a smaller capacity for these cute creatures. This makes it especially important to do everything we can as a community to reunite racoon kits with their mothers. Other smaller mammals, such as bunnies, chipmunks and foxes, mostly inhabit Greenwood’s facilities in the summer months as well. Autumn As the heat begins to dwindle, so do the number of critters Fletcher in need of care, except our squirrel friends. Due to their mating patterns, these baby mammals find themselves at Greenwood twice a year. By September, most of these critters have found their way out into the wild world after about 12 weeks with their mothers. Last year, about 150 squirrels were onsite during the fall season – more than any other animal. The center was able to release over 250 squirrels over the course of 2022. If you find a healthy juvenile squirrel on the ground, it may just need time to be reunited with the mother. Remember to contact Greenwood with any concerns with small mammals or other wildlife in need.

Kaite Fletcher is the new Communications and Content Associate at Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Centery in Longmont.

Town Continued from Page 1

the drive-up window use and waived the requirement for paved parking.

The board passed at first reading an ordinance that will increase the wastewater service rates and charges for the town’s residential and commercial users of the town’s sewer system. The ordinance seeks to raise rates by 8 percent to cover increased expenses. The ordinance would increase the residential sewage base rate to $24.45/month from its current $22.65/month. The averaged rate for January, February and March water usage goes to $14.60/month from $13.50/month. The commercial rates will also increase.

Utilities Director Aaron Caplan said the town’s wastewater enterprise fund continues to see higher than planned expenses at the wastewater treatment plant due to the increased cost of chemicals, lab testing and hauling. A $270,000 shortfall in the wastewater fund is projected for next year; $180,000 of that is budgeted for the Town’s current lawsuit against the plant’s building contractors.

The town’s municipal code allows an increase equal to the consumer price index each year on the base rates, although that increase has not been enacted every year.

Caplan said that there are events that may prevent future sewage rate increases, such as sale of the old Apple Valley water treatment plant and the 2024 payoff of a water bond that will free up $300,000 a year. The cash received or saved would go directly to the wastewater fund.

The ordinance passed unanimously on first reading, and a second reading of this ordinance and a public hearing will be scheduled.

Ecology Advisory Board chair Steve Simms presented the board with a resolution passed November 15 by the EAB supporting town participation in a joint task force with Boulder County to update the county’s parks and open space weed management plans.

Simms said the resolution was precipitated by the recent aerial spraying of the Corona Hill area in October with a synthetic herbicide by Boulder County Parks and Open Space. The ostensible purpose of the spraying was to cut down on cheatgrass – a volatile fuel for wildfires.

The resolution points out that Boulder County has not updated its weed management plans since 2004 and currently has no formal plan for managing cheatgrass.

Simms pointed out that Lyons is in “a unique situation of having open space on three sides of town” with a county policy of weed management that doesn’t jibe with Lyons’ own integrated weed management plan, which severely limits the use of synthetic herbicides such as that sprayed on Corona Hill.

Mayor Rogin said she would like to get the perspective of town staff and the newly formed Lyons Climate Action group before considering the resolution. Mayor pro tem Jocelyn Farrell suggested that a workshop with the town board and staff, EAB, and the climate action group would be appropriate to avoid duplication of efforts. Simms said the EAB would work to that goal.

Lyons resident Greg Lowell is a former Lyons Town Board Trustee and serves as a member of the Ecology Advisory Board.