Soapstone Prairie pulses with cultural and natural history

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

It was a summer of discovery at the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area as archeologists and naturalists worked to quantify what Fort Collins has purchased on the south side of the Wyoming border.

Sweeping plains, a great view, remnants of homesteads, tipi rings and, most importantly, the famed Lindenmeier archeological site were obvious. Months of careful study, however, have turned up more than a hundred sites of significance, lists of wildlife and plant species, and a deeper appreciation for the landscape's human history that dates back some 10,000 years.

In addition, two summers of guided tours are producing the beginnings of a Soapstone fan club of folks who will be back when the natural area officially opens in 2009.

"People are pretty amazed by the property once they get up there," said Daylan Figgs, land manager with the city's natural areas program. "People are at first interested in the ecological aspects, and then they're blown away. There are not many places you can see that far without seeing development."

Soapstone Prairie is greater than 29 square miles, and it's adjacent to Larimer County's Red Mountain Open Space of 21 square miles to the west. The city has spent $8.7 million of its open space budget to acquire nearly 15,000 deeded acres, and it is leasing nearly 4,000 acres from the State Land Board to make up the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area.

When it opens, it will be about a 60-minute drive from Fort Collins to the main entrance, partially over an improved, gravel-surface county road. From the entrance, visitors will be able to hike, bike or ride a horse. There will be no motorized traffic beyond the parking lots.

Visitors returning from summer guided tours were asked to fill out a survey to help the city weigh citizen opinions as it drafts a management plan. Public meetings on management ideas will start in December or January, Figgs said.

A group of archeology students, led by assistant professor Jason LaBelle of Colorado State University, got the closest view of the landscape this summer, literally scanning the ground inch by inch to document sites worthy of future study. Some material was collected for the Fort Collins Museum, but much was left where found.

No work has been done at the Lindenmeier site since 1940, with the exception of one scientist, LaBelle said, and with 70 more years of erosion, there is much more to discover.

The archeologists weren't only looking at dirt, however. "It's shooting-star heaven here," LaBelle said.

Meanwhile, the city is working on the cultural history of the area. The Fort Collins Museum is collecting oral histories from people who have had connections to the site. Once Soapstone opens, the natural areas program wants to "tell the story of the landscape," which includes the homesteading families of the late 1800s and early 1900s, Figgs said.

The Soapstone Prairie also is home to numerous plants and animals. Last year, the city realized it had a threatened plant species residing on the prairie--the Colorado butterfly plant. This year, Figgs said, naturalists found thousands of them. "It's one of the larger known populations," he said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Colorado butterfly plant as threatened six years ago because of loss and degradation of its native habitat. The population at Soapstone Prairie is the only population of the plant known to be surviving in Larimer County. It is a short-lived perennial plant that grows 2- to 3-feet tall, has a white flower with four petals, and blooms June through September.

Figgs explained that this natural area is so well preserved because the previous owners, the Soapstone Grazing Association, "took very good care of the property." Wet meadows were not overgrazed, and cattle were rotated around the expansive grasslands.

Cattle are still grazing there with a lease to the Folsom Grazing Association. Whether grazing should continue when the natural area opens to the public is one of the issues to be decided through the management plan.

Wildlife also like the area, bringing up the question of whether hunting should be allowed in future years. Pronghorn are most abundant, with a population of 350 to 400. Naturalists have spotted 30 to 50 elk and several dozen mule deer, Figgs added.

The Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory also identified 113 bird species this summer. Among declining species of grassland birds, burrowing owls and mountain plover are using the Soapstone Prairie.

With information accumulating, city staffers have much to do between now and summer 2009. Citizens can keep up to date by visiting the city web site at www.fcgov.com/naturalareas.