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" .. partners have the staff and resources to monitor and maintain the restored areas. F~estoration and maintenance efforts on the private property will also be monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis to ensure effectiveness. Capacity of A ppJlcant Historv of workina cooDerativelv in DartnershiD with local landowners. other commur~ oraanizations and local. state and federal aaencies. Boulder County Parks and Open Space (BCPOS), which includes the County's Weed Coordinator, is an arm of Boulder County government whose broad mission is to conserve natural resources. BCPOS manages approximately 90,000 acres of open space with extensive water rights serving over 18,000 irrigated acres. Priorities of BCPOS include the preservation and management of current and future land and water holdi ngs and participation in cooperative efforts to manage irrigation features that benefit agricultural operations and natural resources. Boulder County has worked with all partners of this grant on land acquisiti ons and management of open space properties, and has coordinate several Russian olive task force meetings with these partners over the last 2 years to coordin ate removal efforts throughout the County. We also work with landowners on conservation easem ents. Additional level of cash and in-kind match (bevond the 50% minimum) Drovided bv the aDDlicant oraanization and Dartners. Boulder County and our partners will contribute 62% of the total project with cash and in-kind services. ADDlicant oraanization's demonstrated historv of accomDlishments in reaards to activities similar to the DroDosed Droiect. Over the past seven years, BCPOS has removed over 10,000 Russian olive trees on our open space, and we continue to identify open space properties that have Russ ian olive infestations. We are working towards our ultimate goal of 95% reduction of Russian olive by 2012. The Cities of Longmont, Louisville and Lafayette have also undertaken Russian olive removal in the last 2 years. For this project, BCPOS, and the other partners will provide community outreach and coordinate volunteer efforts to aid the public and landow ners in gaining first-hand knowledge of the problem and establishing ownership of the solution. Appropriate 0 utreach will also be used to communicate successes and failures to other reaions and the scientific community. Level of staffina (volunteer or Daid) and eXDertise the aDDlicant oraanization will dedicate to DroDosed Droiect. We are estimating that BCPOS will use four weed staff and fire mitigation crews (6 staff) to conduct Russian olive removal on BCPOS lands for this project. The project partners win also contribute 5 staff to assist with project management on their respective properties. BCPOS and partners will coordinate at least 3 volunteer events to contribute to this project. Effectlvene.. of the Project: Measurable resul ts that will have a sianificant imDact on imDrovina the health of the watershed consistent with the State aooroved TRO control olan. The Droiect is consistent with Driorities established in the olan and coordiaated with other TRO activities in the watershed. Implementation of this project will include both a physical count of the number of Russian olive trees on the targeted areas, and a count of the numbers of trees removed. Boulder County has conducted several surveys of Russian olive throughout the County, and has priority areas already identified using GIS and a computer program called Pictometry. In addition to actual on-the-ground monitoring, Boulder County has been using aerial photos from 2006 and will compare the removal areas to aerial surveys taken in future years. Russian olives are currently taking water resources from irrigation ditches. therefore once they are removed, more water will be available for SQriculture. Partners will also monitor the Boulder County Collaborative Tamarisk and Russian Olive Removal Project . . 4.