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Ecosystem Health and Environmental Stewardship

Goal 7: Enhance and sustain ecosystem health, protect biological diversity, ensure clean water and air, and promote landscape stewardship and resource conservation.
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Natural ecosystems provide the fundamental necessities to sustain life: water, food, clean air, shelter. A healthy ecosystem is biologically diverse and sustains itself through natural processes and cycles, but it is easily disrupted by interactions with urban landscape and human behavior. Due to human impacts, these systems now require active, responsible stewardship to restore and preserve the natural environment. Lakewood lies primarily within the High Plains ecoregion, which are elevated, semi-arid plains that support native grama-buffalo grass vegetation.

At the time of the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, Lakewood owns and manages 7,400 acres of open space and parks, has an 18% tree canopy coverage citywide, and manages multiple lakes and greenways across the city. The City’s stewardship and the community’s participation in conservation efforts and sustainable management practices are vital to maintaining ecosystem health and resiliency as the impacts of climate change and population growth put strain on the environment. Promoting regenerative practices, initiatives, and programs helps to create a collective culture of stewardship and encourages community members to take action to protect and care for our highly valued natural resources.

Goal 7 Strategies: Ecosystem Health and Environmental Stewardship

This goal encourages development of sustainable practices that limit negative impacts on the environment to support broad ecosystem health and preserve natural resources for current and future generations to enjoy. Primary strategies focus on direct stewardship actions to conserve limited natural resources, prevent pollution and contamination, and protect native species of flora and fauna. Supporting strategies emphasize the importance of partnerships, equity, education, and city leadership.

Primary Strategies

  • Contribute to regional efforts to improve air quality by reducing transportation-related emissions, enhancing green infrastructure, tree canopy, vegetative cover, and other nature-based solutions, and by implementing air quality monitoring and public awareness campaigns.

  • Reduce outdoor water use on public lands and in municipal facilities through sector specific plans and strategies including continued use and implementation of new low-water irrigation technologies, creating drought-tolerant and waterwise landscapes, retrofitting facilities with high efficiency fixtures, minimizing water leaks and water waste, and through employee education.

  • Reduce water consumption in alignment with regional water goals by ensuring that city codes support water efficient development and by providing resources, technical support, and incentive programs that encourage Lakewood residents and businesses to implement indoor and outdoor water efficiency and conservation measures.

  • Minimize the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and other toxins that negatively impact pollinator species and overall ecological health.

  • Develop and implement a Biodiversity Strategy to identify projects, policies and programs that address invasive species, support ecological integrity, incorporate regenerative practices, and reduce the loss of biodiversity.

  • Enhance the urban tree canopy by planting trees along trails, sidewalks, parks, and waterways in priority heat risk areas and targeted areas identified through regular canopy assessments; developing an urban forestry plan; and engaging the public through educational materials, discounted tree sales, and tree planting events.

  • Support greater density in areas well-served by transit and greater transit service and a greater variety of transportation options in denser areas, while ensuring a dense pedestrian-network where residents have safe and convenient access to destinations and the transportation network, while also considering area context.

Supporting Strategies

  • Develop relationships with Indigenous groups and tribal leaders with ancestral connections to Lakewood, and work with them to integrate their traditional ecological knowledge, local history, cultural practices, and perspectives into plans and policies.

  • Building on existing efforts, develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for proactively addressing environmental justice across all relevant City operations. As a baseline, this strategy should be informed by the regular collection and monitoring of necessary data—both quantitative and qualitative.

  • Maintain an up-to-date online resource center to provide information, resources, and services to residents, businesses, and other stakeholders related to energy and water conservation, renewable energy systems, beneficial electrification, waste diversion and climate adaptation strategies.

  • Improve Lakewood’s residential recycling services in preparation for the provision of free recycling through Colorado’s Extended Producer Responsibility Program via a suite of potential tools like enhanced hauler licensing requirements, hauler contracting, universal recycling ordinances, zero waste design guidelines, and targeted education.

  • Responsibly conserve vibrant parks and open space resources through preservation of biodiversity and wildlife habitat, green infrastructure, sustainable practices and environmental stewardship.

  • Regularly assess and update Lakewood’s Zoning Code, engineering standards, and other related land-use policies to ensure that development projects account for climate risks, advance the City’s climate commitments and reflect the community’s adopted vision.

  • Modify the parking requirements in the Zoning Ordinance to be consistent with the context of the area, applicable state laws, and best practices to calibrate a balance between sufficient parking, vibrant places, and reducing harmful environmental impacts such as heat islands.

  • Prioritize the development of policies, programs, services, incentives, and infrastructure to support the reduction and diversion of Lakewood’s highest volume and most environmentally impactful waste streams, starting with construction and demolition debris and organic waste.

  • Continue efforts to prevent environmental contamination by providing a community recycling collection center and hazardous waste recycling collection center for residents and businesses, organizing collection events for hard to recycle items, facilitating litter clean ups, and responding to illegal dumping. Keep these services low-cost, accessible, and expand or enhance them in response to community need and diversion goals.