The 26,000-acre Lowry Range is located at the southeastern edge of the greater metropolitan Denver area, and is bordered by the City of Aurora and the Aurora Reservoir on its western boundary. The Range is part of the former 100,000-acre Lowry Bombing and Gunnery Range. This piece of land is now held in trust for the State of Colorado by the Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners (SBLC) and is a property of the State’s School Trust.
The purpose of this assessment was to identify significant biological values of Lowry Range (especially occurrence of species in need of conservation), and to evaluate the health of the ecological systems. This report is an update to the original 2006 report, and incorporates all of the findings from both 2005 and 2010 surveys. The 2010 biological survey was focused on the area most likely to undergo water and energy development in the near future. The results of this assessment will assist the SBLC in evaluating potential conservation easement scenarios and energy and water development projects, as well as improve understanding of how development might affect the existing biological resources of Lowry Range.
The results of the surveys confirm that there are 12 uncommon and rare species of animals, including an excellent quality occurrence of one of Colorado’s rarest small mammal subspecies, the northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides macrotis). The global distribution of this subspecies is limited to only 3 counties within Colorado, and conservation of the northern pocket gopher population on Lowry Range is essential to conserving this subspecies.
For more information, download the full report from our Documents and Reports page.
