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Get Involved: High Plains Environmental Center

High Plains Environmental Center

The High Plains Environmental Center is a 275-acre wildlife habitat that includes a reservoir and a lake. It is is located within Centerra, a large mixed-use development in Loveland, and Centerra landowners contract with the center to retain an additional 135 acres of open space. The center works with developers, builders, businesses and residents to make the community a living laboratory that provides integrated examples of community design, land stewardship, eco-literacy and sustainable living.

The center aims to conserve and restore Colorado's bio-diversity in the midst of development. Their gardens and exhibits demonstrate the benefits of wildlife and water conservation derived from the use of native plants in landscaping, open space, and urban storm water ponds. The center also has an educational plot for demonstrating how to make vegetable gardens sustainable. Their nursery produces tens of thousands of ecotypic plants every year for restoration and landscaping projects, providing valuable forage for pollinators and wildlife.

Credit High Plains Environmental Center

As a nonprofit, the center relies on volunteers to continue their commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable living in Northern Colorado. Volunteer projects last year included building a new cold frame, planting over 200 shrubs, building fencing around vegetable and community gardens, Loveland's Annual Waterways Clean-Up Event, Adopt-a-Roadway along Boyd Lake Avenue, transplanting, planting, weeding and mulching. Also, with the help of volunteers, the center donated over 1,100 pounds of fresh produce to the House of Neighborly Service and FoCo Cafe. Beginning in March, the center will be hosting weekly gardening and land stewardship volunteer projects. Individuals, families, and groups are all welcome and no skills are required. If you’d like information about volunteering with High Plains Environmental Center, click here.
 

Get Involved is a service of KUNC to the community we serve. It is produced independent of the KUNC newsroom. 

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