Friends of Coal Creek

Pollinators are in rapid decline across the Front Range, collapsing a critical link in the food chain and weakening the ecosystems that support our lives and so many others. This is the beginning of a feedback loop that hastens the modern biodiversity crisis and encodes the negative effects of climate change into our future.

Friends of Coal Creek believes in the power of the land to solve these challenges. Native plants work from the soil up to strengthen the land, provide shelter for native insects and animals, and bring vitality back to the places that have lost it. 

It all starts with the land and our ambition is to create a swath of high-quality pollinator habitat that follows the creek’s 35-mile run from Golden down to Erie. It will be the largest of its kind in Colorado.

Since 2022, Friends of Coal Creek has marshaled a force of volunteers to remove weeds, plant native wildflowers, shrubs and grasses, and clean-up the creek’s banks as it runs through five Front Range cities and towns with a combined population of more than 100,000.

But we know there is no progress without relationships. That’s why we partner with schools, businesses, private landowners, municipalities, nonprofits and community groups to spread not only plants, but also knowledge and advice about the value of native plants in our landscape and how to use them and care for them so they can care for us. Our goal is to bring nature to people and places that have historically lacked it and renew their connection to the land.

Healthy land fosters healthy people. Even small swaths of nature have profound effects on mental health, reducing stress and creating calm. A bee on a wildflower can change your life. We want everyone to experience that.

Friends of Coal Creek believes we have the power to put resiliency back into the land and regain the vitality we have spent. We can bring our neighborhoods and cities back into balance. And we can do it by spreading beauty. It all starts with native plants.

Friends of Coal Creek is a partner project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, a 501(c)(3) organization. Your tax-deductible gift goes directly toward our programs and services.