CR CR 2.3 - Expand opportunities to engage in arts and cultural programming throughout the community.
Participation fell below target primarily because of major construction at Northside Aztlan Community Center (NACC) for most of the year. This restricted available space for child care and impacted rental spaces. Recreation did see an increase in reduced fee enrollments (+13%), reduced fee pass visits (+5%) and non-reduced fee pass visits (+16.4%) to our facilities compared with 2022. The number of rentals stayed the same as in 2022 which is attributed to the construction at NACC.
This is a Quarterly metric.
- In the fourth quarter of 2023, Natural Areas volunteers and staff provided 66 educational activities that reached 1,527 people, exceeding the target for this quarter by 234 individuals.
- Some highlights of programming included black-footed ferret education at Soapstone Prairie, a classroom presentation about Animal Camouflage at Linton Elementary (a Title One School), and a series of Eagle Watch programs at Fossil Creek Reservoir.
- Interest in educational activities continues to grow along with a desire for stewardship volunteer opportunities.
Paved trail visits were above the target in Q4 2023. Because of an active first half of the year and Q4, we ended the year above target.
This is an Annual Metric.
In the 2023 Community Survey 91% of participants ranked natural areas and open pace good or very good, which is higher than ratings the national average.
In 2023, Natural Areas concluded the 30th anniversary celebration of the initial passage of the citizen initiative sales tax that supports Natural Areas funding.
This is an Annual Metric
- Acres per Capita: 0.17*
* Staff have audited the land conservation spreadsheet and made several corrections/additions. The 2023 metric excludes 42,703 acres associated with Soapstone NA, Red Mountain OS and Hermit Park Open Space - including the following acquisitions: Soapstone Grazing Association, Roman's, SLB, Krafczik, Round Butte, Bernard, Gallegos, Zimmerman, Koehler, Noonan, Moore, Evans, Gallegos inholding, Hawk Canyon and Steputis, and Agilent Technologies. Calculation: 30,172 acres divided by 176,940 residents = 0.17