Every photo tells part of the story. By taking a photo at a photo stand while out on the trails in Boulder, you help create a visual record of how our landscapes change over time from wildfire recovery and seasonal shifts to long-term ecological change. Your photo becomes part of a community science project that helps with decision making, research and project needs.

Visitors can take a photo and contribute to a timelapse reel that shows the changes throughout the season or over the course of a restoration project. This is the NCAR Fire burn scar healing over the last year.

Aug. 1 | Red Flag Days: Understanding Fire Risk and Staying Safe: Explore what Red Flag warnings mean, how the city responds during high-risk conditions and what residents and visitors can do to stay safe.

Aug. 1 | Recovery & Wellness: Honey, Hives & Honeybees: Spend a peaceful morning at the farm learning about the important role honeybees play in healthy ecosystems, how they work together as a hive, and the remarkable process of making honey and beeswax.

Aug. 7 | The Bear's Blueprint for Survival: Lessons in Adaptability: Discover how climate and human activity shape bear behavior today and leave with practical tips for living safely alongside these wild neighbors. 

Aug. 9 | A Nature Playdate: Mountain-top Magic: Little adventurers will go on a short hike with lots of rocks for climbing and jumping, build fairy and gnome homes and make a butterfly and nature impressions craft to take home. 

Aug. 15 | Dark Skies & Deep Space: As the Milky Way arches overhead, meteors from the Perseid shower streak across the darkness, while distant galaxies begin to rise in the east — offering a glimpse beyond our own cosmic neighborhood. 

Aug. 22 | Mountain Soils & High-Altitude Ways of Life: Through stories, soil comparisons, and hands-on exploration, this program highlights how people and wildlife adapt to thin air and thin soils and how cultural traditions from Tibet and Nepal can inspire Boulder’s own approaches to land stewardship.

Aug. 23 | Out in Nature: Mushroom Fairies & Moss Magic: A spectacular mushroom fairy hike and crafting session where you'll learn about fungi, moss, lichens and the queer cultural connection to both mushrooms and fairies.

Aug. 27 | Echoes of the Past: Hiking the Roots of Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks: Explore the late 19th-century roots of Boulder’s Chautauqua and Mountain Parks system, discover how civic visionaries helped preserve these open spaces and learn about the sandstone legacy of Woods Quarry. 

Aug. 29 | Recovery & Wellness: The Goats of Growing Gardens: Meet the goats, learn about their care, and discover how the farm connects people to the land, their food and nature through regenerative farming and humane dairy practices. 

Aug. 30 | Fishin' Fun: A morning of fishing where anglers 15 and under don’t require a license to fish. Learn pond fishing basics, equipment and techniques.

Seasonal area closures have been lifted - thank you for respecting wildlife and giving them room to bring new little ones into the world!

Thank you to the 32 volunteers who spent countless hours monitoring 25 different raptor nesting sites over the season to provide information that helps us better manage wildlife habitats.

While the overall success rate is on par with recent years, we know that some young birds (fledglings) did not survive due to the cold, wet snowstorm on May 6. We were, however, excited to see some new osprey pairs at White Rocks Trail!

We are cheering on the bald eagle pair at White Rocks as they have been extremely dedicated to their nest but have not been successful since 2022.

When wildfire risk is high, OSMP staff change how we work to help prevent human-caused fires. It's the same approach we ask our community to take: pay attention to conditions, reduce activities that could spark a fire and make safety the top priority.

- Review weather forecasts and changing fire conditions.

- Modify or postpone work that could create sparks.

- Inspect equipment and carry firefighting tools.

- Review communication plans and emergency procedures before working in the field.

- Continuously evaluate conditions throughout the day and adjust operations as needed.

By adapting to changing conditions together, we can help protect people, wildlife and the land we all care for.

All children deserve safe, welcoming opportunities to play in nature.  

Regular time outdoors supports joy, creativity and well-being while helping young people build a personal connection to the natural world. 

Find one of Boulder’s “Naturehoods’ or a close to-home nature space that consist of parks, creeks, lakes, open spaces and interstitial pockets of nature. There are seven new Naturehoods in Boulder.

“Who cuts the grass?”  

“Why does lichen grow on rocks?” 

“What kind of mushrooms are around here?”  

“Why did that tree fall down?” 

These curiosities are an amazing way for young people to start feeling connected with nature. Learning in and with nature helps build understanding of local ecosystems and the role people play in protecting them.  

Experiences in nature can foster positive attitudes toward the environment, deepen awareness of environmental challenges and solutions and inspire actions that care for the Earth.

When children feel connected to nature, they are more likely to care for it and their community.  

Creating opportunities to lead, participate and make decisions helps young people build agency and contribute to a more sustainable future. Parents and caregivers matter, too! They play key roles as nature mentors and showing children what it looks like to love and care for nature. 

The Nature Everywhere Initiative is a collaboration between multiple city departments, Growing Up Boulder and a number of other community partners working together to advance equitable access to nature for Boulder youth and their families.