Colorado Springs pushes drought-resistant landscaping, smaller lawns
In May of this year, Colorado Springs Utilities partnered with Habitat for Humanity to install water-wise landscaping in two new homes with a goal of helping homeowners keep their outdoor maintenance and watering bills lower. (Video by Skyler Ballard/ The Gazette)
Americans across the country have a love affair with lawns, with turf covering more land than corn crops. But in the Pikes Peak region, municipalities want residents to embrace more drought-resilient, native landscaping and are willing to cover some costs.
In the long term, maintaining plants adapted to a drier climate will lower bills for customers and require less maintenance, landscaping experts said.
Looking across her brand-new front yard, Anna Herrera, a homeowner through Habitat for Humanity, said she expects the plants she picked, including red yucca, will look nice all year round. The plants frame freshly laid Bermuda grass sod, expected to require far less water than Kentucky bluegrass.
It also stands out from her neighboring homes, all of which have the same bushes and the same trees, an aspect she appreciates. Just a few weeks into sharing the home with her daughters and mom, she already has plans for improvements, including a bench to spend time in the yard.
Karmen Allen, left, Molly Olson and Kymm Hockman plant a tree in the front yard of a Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity home on May 20 in Colorado Springs.
“I just want it to be beautiful,” said Herrera, a full-time caregiver for her mom and her daughter, who has battled brain cancer for years.
Colorado Springs Utilities worked with Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity on transitioning to drought-resilient landscaping this spring and, going forward, new homeowners will select plants for their homes from a low-water-use listing.
“We really want to help our low-income customers by having more sustainable landscapes,” said Lisa Pace, senior water conservation specialist. Herrera’s most recent water bill was $45, and she is still working to get her lawn established, she said.
To achieve long-term water savings, Utilities, Aurora and other Front Range cities have also adopted new landscaping rules, as the seven states dependent on the Colorado River, including Colorado, discuss changes in management. The river system, overallocated since the 1920s, has seen levels in reservoirs drop radically in recent years, endangering power production. A wet winter staved off hard decisions, but major changes to the river management will be necessary as the West becomes more arid.
In Colorado Springs starting this month, homebuilders can only put in high-water-use lawns that cover 25% of a new home’s yard — down from 50%. Last year, Aurora restricted turf grass to 45% of a yard or 500 square feet, 9News reported.
“We need to address turf grass and our landscape codes, because it’s critical to our water supply future of Colorado Springs,” said Catherine Moravec, water conservation lead for Utilities. “In addition, by using water-wise plants, we can make our community, our community’s landscaping, so much more resilient to droughts. And it will just keep us better prepared for when we get those hot, dry summers.”
Karmen Allen, left, Molly Olson, center, and other volunteers landscape the front yard of a Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity home on May 20 in Colorado Springs.
Utilities also wants to cut outdoor water irrigation, because it soaks up about 40% of the community’s water and many lawns are purely ornamental.
Across the U.S., NASA imaging showed that there are about three times more acres of lawn than irrigated corn. In wetter climates, residents don’t need to irrigate at all to keep their lawns alive, but in Colorado, lawns can need 2.5 inches a week in the heat of summer, according to Colorado State University.
The new Colorado Springs rule is expected to save 62 acre-feet of water through 2030, according to Utilities data. An acre-foot of water can support four households for a year on average in Colorado Springs.
An ice plant was one of the low-water plants used to landscape this Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity home in Colorado Springs on May 20.
Across the Colorado River Basin, other cities have taken more drastic steps. In southern Nevada, businesses, multifamily properties and others must take out ornamental lawns by Jan. 1, 2027. The law does not apply to single-family homes.
While Colorado Springs hasn’t adopted mandates to take out lawns for existing homes or business, residents are taking out Kentucky bluegrass and other water-hungry grasses, because they simply don’t look as good under city irrigation restrictions, said Allisa Linfield, horticulture coordinator in El Paso County for Colorado State University Extension. Utilities limits residential watering to three days a week.
In addition, some residents are concerned about the decline of pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, and want to put in plants that will support those populations, she said.
For example, Western bumblebee populations have declined 57% in its historic range, the U.S. Geological Survey found.
“It’s really empowering as an individual to make an impact through your own landscape,” Linfield said.
Manitou Springs recently was designated the first certified municipal pollinator district by Butterfly Pavilion, a major effort that took buy-in from the city, Manitou Springs School District 14, churches and residents, said Melody Daugherty, the project manager for the designation. It’s work that takes restoring open space with native shrubs and flowers and more native landscaping in private gardens, among other steps.
Daugherty said the potential falloff in pollinator populations is a major threat to food production that helps encourage people to do what they can, even if that is putting native plants in patio pots.
“Where we are going is so serious and so dangerous, that’s a good motivator,” she said.
Pollinator populations are declining, in part because of pesticides, climate change and habitat destruction.
When nonnative showy plants go into gardens, they do not have the same nectar production that native plants do. Then when invertebrates are not eating well, it’s harder for them to fight off other challenges, said Lorna McCallister, target species manager with Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster. But awareness about the problem is on the rise, she said.
“I think we are in the beginning stages of people fixing it,” she said.
Manitou Springs’ recent designation also is helping raise awareness about how communities, residents and businesses can help, she said.
To encourage transitions away from water-hungry lawns, Colorado Springs Utilities signed up 350 people this spring for classes on how to put in native grass. About 150 people completed the classes and qualified for free grass seed and high-efficiency irrigation nozzles, Moravec said. She expects Utilities will run the same program next year based on strong interest.
Fountain provides up to $1,000 in discounted lawn removal services or waterwise garden kits, said Katie Helm, conservation and sustainability manager. The town has seen more interest in removing lawns, she said, because lawns are so labor-intensive, and removal adds more flexibility in yard design. The city set aside funding for 14 homes and has funding for six left. Fountain residents can sign up through resourcecentral.org/lawn or call 303-999-3820 Ext. 221.
Colorado State University maintains a lists of native plants for El Paso County at elpaso.extension.colostate.edu/native-plants-for-el-paso-county.
Anna Herrera stands outside her Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity home Thursday as she talks about her vision behind her recently planted front yard, including her low-water lawn. The high-altitude Bermuda grass, once established, will only need watering once a week for 30-45 minutes.
